Do you believe that in biological terms fathering babies past the age of 32 is old?

Question

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021018080014.htm

The mutations rapidly increase in the primordial sperm making cells between the ages of 33-35. These are the cells that make other cells.

The mean age of fathers in England and Wales increased from 29.3 in 1980 to 32.1 in 2003.



George Davey Smith, M.D.

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

J Epidemiol Community Health 2006;60:851–853. doi: 10.1136/jech.2005.045179


The public health implications of this trend have not
been widely anticipated or debated.


http://press.psprings.co.uk/jech/october/851_ch45179.pdf

http://how-old-is-too-old.blogspot.com/

Kathryn take a good long look:

http://how-old-is-too-old.blogspot.com/

1: Am J Hum Genet. 2003 Oct;73(4):939-47. Epub 2003 Jul 31. Links
The paternal-age effect in Apert syndrome is due, in part, to the increased frequency of mutations in sperm.Glaser RL, Broman KW, Schulman RL, Eskenazi B, Wyrobek AJ, Jabs EW.
Institute of Genetic Medicine, Center for Craniofacial Development and Disorders, Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.

A paternal-age effect and the exclusive paternal origin of mutations have been reported in Apert syndrome (AS). As the incidence of sporadic AS births increases exponentially with paternal age, we hypothesized that the frequency of AS mutations in sperm would also increase. To determine the frequency of two common FGFR2 mutations in AS, we developed allele-specific peptide nucleic acid-PCR assays. Analyzing sperm DNA from 148 men, age 21-80 years, we showed that the number of sperm with mutations increased in the oldest age groups among men who did not have a child with

child with AS. These older men were also more likely to have both mutations in their sperm. However, this age-related increase in mutation frequency was not sufficient to explain the AS-birth frequency. In contrast, the mutation frequency observed in men who were younger and had children with AS was significantly greater. In addition, our data suggest selection for sperm with specific mutations. Therefore, contributing factors to the paternal-age effect may include selection and a higher number of mutant sperm in a subset of men ascertained because they had a child with AS. No age-related increase in the frequency of these mutations was observed in leukocytes. Selection and/or quality-control mechanisms, including DNA repair and apoptosis, may contribute to the cell-type differences in mutation frequency.

PMID: 12900791 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Answer 1

There is no denying with age mutations accumulate and most mutations are harmful. But you will recall that in human ejaculate there are about 100 million sperms per ml. Statistically speaking, the sperm with harmful genes would be in greater amount as one advances in years. Fertilization is a chance event. To believe that only bad sperm will fertilize in later years of life is a misnomer. It is quite possible that a healthy sperm will fertilize.
When women are past 40 years, child bearing becomes dangerous because of shrinkage of uterus and so on.
I believe that 32 is still a good age for procreation.

Answer 2

Are you willing to change your whole way of thinking about parenthood because of the data from only 60 men of varying ages? How do they know that the men who showed the mutation did not have that mutation earlier in their lives? There was no evidence of a longitudinal study to check on that. This is WAY too vague pseudoscience and a ridiculously small study to worry about fathering babies. Think about it - how many men are in the world population today? Is 60 a reasonable sample to get a cross-section of the world???
The point has been mentioned that men produce thousands of sperm with each ejaculation; only ONE of them - presumably the fittest/fastest/best - gets to fertilize the egg. If a few were mutated, it is likely they would not be that one. Additionally, although "mutation" is considered a bad thing in regular conversation, not every mutation is harmful. Many are helpful; many exist that we don't even see or know about.
I won't even go into the fact that if the genetic material is too damaged, then the fertilized egg will not develop and pregnancy will not take place...
For practical genetic purposes, there is no age "too old" to father children! For common sense purposes, how old do you wanna be when your kids graduate from high school?

Answer 3

There is not such a thing as a set time for defining an "old sperm"....men well in their 80s can father healthy children, unlike females, in which after the age of 35, increase the probabilities of Down stndrome (trisomy 21) in the offspring.
In the medical literature, age in men, per se, is not casue nor a demonstrated factor of birth defects in children.....
Spermatogenesis is slower, however the fertile sperms that they might produce, are at no more risk than those of young man, of producing chilbirth defects (chromosomatic in origin)...age of 32 too old?....no way

Answer 4

I agree with the article that as the age increases the risk of having a mutation in one of the million sperm may be more.......but since is it millions of sperm......the risk seems less than that for a woman.
I would say past 50 is the more worrying age for men...not 32....

Answer 5

Yes. With increased age of the sperm comes increased possible mutations. This trend could explain the increase in syndromes in children such as ADD, Autism, GRD, etc.

Answer 6

The quality of sperm doesn't start to decrease until 40+

Answer 7

no
definatley not my husband is 36 we are not considering having our first baby for a couple of years and even then he will only be 68 when ur child is thirty
he is very active and athletic and much more responsible now than he was at thirty two !!!

Answer 8

umm no im 30 I will be 32 when we get ready to have our next child

Answer 9

It looks to me as if you decided on the answer before you posted the question---?

Answer 10

No way, my dad was like 35 when I was born!

=D