A CAMPAIGN FOR MEN TO COMPLETE THEIR FAMILIES BEFORE AGE 35

COULD MEN BE CONVINCED TO COMPLETE THEIR FATHERING OF BABIES EARLIER IN LIFE TO PREVENT SPORADIC CANCERS (PROSTATE, BREAST, LEUKEMIAS, CANCERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM,) NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS SUCH AS AUTISM, SCHIZOPHRENIA, MENTAL RETARDATION, IMMUNE DISORDERS SUCH AS TYPE 1 DIABETES, MS, AND ALZHEIMER'S? The offspring would lead healthier lives.




: Am J Med Genet. 1988 Dec;31(4):845-52.Links
Prevalence of dominant mutations in Spain: effect of changes in maternal age distribution.Martínez-Frías ML, Herranz I, Salvador J, Prieto L, Ramos-Arroyo MA, Rodríguez-Pinilla E, Cordero JF.
Estudio Colaborativo Español de Malformaciones Congénitas (ECEMC), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

We studied the birth prevalence of autosomal dominant mutations in Spain and estimated how a decrease in maternal age distribution may lead to reduction in dominant mutations. The data were collected by the Estudio Colaborativo Español de Malformaciones Congénitas from April, 1976, to December, 1985. Among 553,270 liveborn infants monitored during the period, 66 infants with autosomal dominant conditions were identified. These included Apert, Crouzon, Hay-Wells, Treacher-Collins, Robinow, Stickler, Adams-Oliver, and the blepharophimosis syndromes, achondroplasia, cleidocranial dysostosis, and thanatophoric dysplasia. The overall rate of autosomal dominant conditions was 1.2 per 10,000 liveborn infants. Thirteen (20%) had an affected relative, and 52 (79%) had a negative family history. One case was excluded because of insufficient family data. The rate of autosomal dominant mutations was 0.9 per 10,000 liveborn infants, or 47 per 1 million gametes. A reduction in the maternal age distribution of mothers age 35 years and older from the current 10.8% to 4.9%, as in Atlanta, Georgia, would reduce the rate of Down syndrome in Spain by 33% and through a change in parternal age distribution may lead to a reduction in dominant mutations of about 9.6%. This suggests that a public health campaign to reduce older maternal age distribution in Spain may also lead to a reduction in dominant mutations and emphasizes the potential that a direct campaign for fathers to complete their families before age 35 years may have a small, but measurable, effect in the primary prevention of dominant mutations.

PMID: 3239577 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related LinksGenetic disease in the offspring of older fathers. [Obstet Gynecol. 1981] Effect of paternal age in achondroplasia, thanatophoric dysplasia, and osteogenesis imperfecta. [Am J Med Genet. 1995] Epidemiological aspects of Mendelian syndromes in a Spanish population sample: I. Autosomal dominant malformation syndromes. [Am J Med Genet. 1991] Paternal age and the risk of birth defects in offspring. [Epidemiology. 1995] Trisomy 18 in Kuwait. [Int J Epidemiol. 1999] » See all Related Articles...

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2006;60:851-853; doi:10.1136/jech.2005.045179
Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
This Article

SHORT REPORT

Advanced paternal age: How old is too old?
Isabelle Bray, David Gunnell, George Davey Smith

Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, UK


Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr I Bray
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK; Issy.Bray@bristol.ac.uk


Average paternal age in the UK is increasing. The public health implications of this trend have not been widely anticipated or debated. This commentary aims to contribute to such a debate. Accumulated chromosomal aberrations and mutations occurring during the maturation of male germ cells are thought to be responsible for the increased risk of certain conditions with older fathers. Growing evidence shows that the offspring of older fathers have reduced fertility and an increased risk of birth defects, some cancers, and schizophrenia. Adverse health outcomes should be weighed up against advantages for children born to older parents, mindful that these societal advantages are likely to change over time.



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Keywords: paternal age; DNA damage; fertility; abnormalities; schizophrenia



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Paternal Age and Autism Associated in Family-Based Sample
AGRE Data Suggests Need for Further Study A recent article by Abraham Reichenberg and co-workers based on Israeli births in the 1980's reported a significant association between paternal age at birth and a child's risk for developing autism. The study reported that as paternal age increased, so did the risk of autism spectrum disorder. In response, R M Cantor, JL Yoon, J Furr and C Lajonchere, Vice President of Clinical Programs for Autism Speaks, investigated whether data from the autism genetic resource exchange, or AGRE, would show the same association. The results of their analysis were published in a letter to Molecular Psychiatry, and suggest that increased paternal age is associated with increased autism risk, and that further analyses of large samples are needed to identify and disentangle the autism risk factors for children of older fathers. here is the letter (PDF) http://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/d_200705_patage.pdf








1: Eur Psychiatry. 2007 Jan;22(1):22-6. Epub 2006 Dec 4. Links Paternal ages below or above 35 years old are associated with a different risk of schizophrenia in the offspring.Wohl M, Gorwood P. INSERM U675, 16 rue Henri Huchard 75018 Paris, France.BACKGROUND: A link between older age of fatherhood and an increased risk of schizophrenia was detected in 1958. Since then, 10 studies attempted to replicate this result with different methods, on samples with different origins, using different age classes. Defining a cut-off at which the risk is significantly increased in the offspring could have an important impact on public health. METHODS: A meta-analysis (Meta Win) was performed, assessing the mean effect size for each age class, taking into account the difference in age class references, and the study design. RESULTS: An increased risk is detected when paternal age is below 20 (compared to 20-24), over 35 (compared to below 35), 39 (compared to less than 30), and 54 years old (compared to less than 25). Interestingly, 35 years appears nevertheless to be the lowest cut-off where the OR is always above 1, whatever the age class reference, and the smallest value where offspring of fathers below or above this age have a significantly different risk of schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: No threshold can be precisely defined, but convergent elements indicate ages below or above 35 years. Using homogeneous age ranges in future studies could help to clarify a precise threshold.



NW CRYOBANK DOES NOT ACCEPT DONORS PAST the 35th BIRTHDAY TO AVOID GENETIC DEFECTS FROM OLDER MEN'S SPERM

Donor Standards Our donors are recruited from the Northwest US. Most of our donors are either starting, currently involved with, or have finished their higher education at the time of their participation in our donor program. All donors are between 18 and 35 years of age in order to minimize age related genetic abnormalities. All donors are frozen in very limited quantities in order to guarantee that the number of pregnancies created from any one donor are limited. We stop further sales to new clients at 10 reported successes. Although all donor histories are reviewed to provide you with donors that should give you a great chance of concieving a healthy and normal baby, there is of course no way to guarantee such an outcome. As all donor family histories will present with their own unique positive and negative attributes, we encourage all clients to review donor information thoroughly prior to purchase and use of specimens.