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Older fathers' children risk
Rex Features
Children of older dads are twice as likely to die before they are adults, new research shows.
A study of 100,000 children showed that those born to the over-45s were much less likely to live to be 19 than those born to men in their late 20s.
Increased rates of birth defects, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy are thought to be the biggest obstacles for children born to ageing dads.
The Danish study is new evidence that the biological clock affects men as well as women when it comes to having children.
The University of Aarhus study tracked the health of more than 100,000 first-borns for up to the first 18 years of their lives.
During that time 831 died, with the majority of deaths in the first year after birth.
Analysis found a clear link between cause of death and the father's age, with children of teenage fathers and of over-45s up to 88% more likely to die than those born to men aged between 25 and 29.
Children of older men were most likely to have died from birth defects such as heart problems, the European Journal of Epidemiology reports.
In Britain around one in ten babies is born to men aged 40 and over.
Monday 2 June 2008
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Well these doctors are crazy because my grandfather had children till he was 90 years old and all the children are all doing fine, that is in Africa let alone these modern days....
Comment by ada patsy on June 04 19:04
Did the survey take into account the age of the mother as generally speaking if the father is over 40 the mother is over 30 and therefore her biological clock is on the slippery slope too? I defy this research as I am the mother of 5 healthy children, all conceived when my husband was over 50 and I believe that headlines such as this are sensationalist and serve no purpose.
Comment by CJ on June 04 18:58