Why I’m Not Having More Children
A man over 40 is almost six times as likely as a man under 30 to father an autistic child … a man’s chances of fathering offspring with schizophrenia double when he hits 40 and triple at age 50. The incidence of bipolarity, epilepsy, prostate cancer and breast cancer also increases in children born to men approaching 40.
Both dwarfism and Marfan syndrome (a disorder of the connective tissue) have been linked to older fathers, and according to research published in 1996 in the journal Nature Genetics, Apert syndrome (a disorder characterized by malformations of the skull, face, hands and feet) is a mutation caused exclusively by advanced paternal age.
A 2009 study at the University of Queensland, Australia, found a correlation between advanced paternal age and poorer performance by children on intelligence tests (the children of older mothers actually performed better). And when researchers at King’s College, London, bred mice from fathers of differing ages, the offspring of older fathers exhibited significant deficits in social and exploratory behavior.
Full article on late-in-life fathers.
A precautionary note for older men.
For many years medical experts assumed only women’s fertility (and the likelihood of having kids with Down’s Syndrome) was affected by age. Now they are discovering more evidence men’s fertility declines with age — as does the likelihood of producing children with genetic anomalies.
Interesting finding. Maybe there should be a law against older men have unprotected sex.
None of this ever bothered Strom Thurmond.
I wonder about the methodology here. As I remember from biology, Sperm are constantly being made, they’re always fresh and new. While eggs are always getting older.
Could it be a correlation vs. causation issue? Are older men more likely fertilize older eggs because they’re having sex with older women?
Could it be that, statistically, people with autism spectrum disorders, people with mental health issues, marry or procreate later in life, enough to tilt the findings in that direction?
Could it be another social or environmental factor that men who wait until an older age to have a family face? What type of man waits so long to have kids? Could be a common thread.
I’m always skeptical.
I guess I was lucky; my mom was 48 and my dad was 55 when I was born.