Men have biological clocks, too

The quality of sperm declines with age, so men who plan to delay fatherhood should be counseled to consider sperm banking before age 35, Rutgers University researchers conclude in a new review article.

The paper, published recently in the journal Maturitas, reviewed 40 years of studies of the effects of the father’s age on fertility, pregnancy and the health of children.

“There is evidence that advanced paternal age has significant overall adverse impact,” the researchers wrote. “Sperm banking for men who are delaying childbearing may need to be a part of our societal responsibility commencing in the nearby future.”

Co-author Gloria Bachmann, an obstetrician-gynecologist, said, “Does it mean doom and gloom? Of course not. What we’re talking about are the risks, and they do increase with age.”

Over the last 40 years, both men and women have been having children at later ages on average. In the United States, infants born to older fathers increased from about 4% to 10% during that period, the researchers wrote.

However, experts don’t agree on how to define “advanced paternal age.” Some studies set the threshold at age 35, others at 45. For women, 35 is a clearer demarcation, because by then, they have only about 3 percent of the eggs they were born with, and the supply and quality go downhill quickly after that.

“Many men,” Bachmann and colleagues wrote, “do not think about their age as having any effects on the reproductive process.”