Researchers believe that as a man ages, the quality of his sperm declines, resulting in children with a higher risk of autism, epilepsy etc.

Bad sperm hurts kids of older dads
AAP | Tuesday, 03 June 2008


Fairfax
JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Researchers believe that as a man ages, the quality of his sperm declines, resulting in children with a higher risk of autism, epilepsy and other disorders.

Children are almost twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood if their fathers are aged over 45, a new study says.


And scientists believe the declining quality of sperm as men age is a factor.

Deaths of children fathered by over-45s occurred at almost twice the rate of those fathered by men aged between 25 and 30, according to a new study cited by Britain's Telegraph newspaper.

Scientists believe children fathered by older men are more likely to suffer particular congenital defects as well as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy, the news report said.

A total of 100,000 children born between 1980 and 1996 were examined, of whom 830 have so far died before they reached 18, the majority when they were less than a year old.

The deaths of many of the children of the older fathers were related to congenital defects such as problems of the heart and spine, which increase the risk of infant mortality, the Telegraph report said.

But there were also higher rates of accidental death, which the researchers believe might be explained by the increased likelihood of suffering from autism, epilepsy or schizophrenia.

The study was the first of its kind of such scope in the West. Most research about risks linked to age has so far focused on older mothers.

The new study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, was adjusted to take account of maternal age and socio-economic differences.

"A lot of people know that there are risks for the child that come from having an older mother, but children of older fathers also carry an increased risk," Dr Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology – the medical speciality dealing with male reproduction – at the University of Sheffield, said according to the Telegraph.

"These sorts of results provide another good reason to have children early, when possible."

Pacey said scientists were unsure exactly what impact the ageing process had on the quality of sperm, making it impossible to detect defects before conception.

Dr Jin Liang Zhu, from the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, which carried out the research, said: "The risks of older fatherhood can be very profound, and it is not something that people are always aware of."

The mother's age still has the bigger impact on child health, however.

About one in 900 babies born to women under 30 have Down's syndrome a figure which reaches one in 100 by the age of 40, the Telegraph said.