Don't be Fooled By The Teenagers Having Worse Birth Outcomes than 40 Plus

This study is not designed to see whether autism, schizophrenia, cancers, mental retardation, genetic defects increase with the age of the father at conception. What about comparing 20-30 year old outcomes by 1st grade with 40-60 years old by 1st grade. How much autism, and other developmental disabilities in each set?


From the new study:


" The study, the largest on the effects of paternal age on adverse birth outcomes, suggested that babies of teenage fathers are at an increased risk of having problems ranging from pre-term delivery or low birth weight, through to death in or near to the time of delivery, the Science Daily online reported."


"After adjusting for confounding factors (such as race, education, smoking and alcohol drinking during pregnancy, adequacy of prenatal care and the sex of the baby), the study found that babies born to teenage fathers (aged less than 20) were more likely to be born early (a 15 per cent increased risk), have low birth weight (13 per cent increased risk), be small for gestational age (17 per cent increased risk), have a low Apgar score (13 per cent increased risk) or to die within the first four weeks after birth (22 per cent increased risk) or to die in the period from four weeks to one year after birth (41 per cent increased risk). "