Men's Fertility Affected by Aging Too

Monday, October 27, 2008
Men's Fertility Affected by Aging Too!

Many times I will enter emails, or something of interest written by other people and this is not different. I don't agree with everything from WC Douglas, MD, but often I agree with a lot and he, like other authors. puts things so much better than I can. As well, although I may well lose you as a reader, I hope you will hit their websites, and gather even more information, or just know that I am gleaning the best of the rest for you.

I got this article today from Dr. Douglas in his group email (yes you too can subscribe.) I have been hearing about this sort of thing, mens aging and menopause, for a while, but not connected to fertility and birth defects, etc.

Here is the article:

Guys: do you know what time is on your biological clock?

Dear Friend,

Hey guys. Hear that steady "tick, tick, tick" sound? Well, if you don't, maybe you ought to be listening more closely, because it turns out that the whole "biological clock" thing isn't just for women any more. More and more studies are discovering that a man's fertility is just as likely to come with an expiration date as a woman's.

For years, it was assumed that because men constantly produce sperm every 90 days for as long as they live, age didn't play a factor in fertility. But that might not be the case after all. A recent study in France found that a father's age could have as much of an impact on the rate of pregnancy and miscarriage as a mother's age. In fact, the older either potential parent was, the lower the odds of conception and the higher the odds of miscarriage.

Another study found that only eight percent of couples where the would-be father was younger than 25 would take longer than a year to conceive. But when the father was over 35, that number jumped to 15 percent taking over a year to conceive.

Honestly, I don't know why this info would come as such a shock to everyone. It's well known that men are most fertile when they're around 24 years old. It's all downhill from there. Age leads to a drop in testosterone level, which can lower the number and viability of their sperm.

Here's what I did find interesting…

Older men are also at an increased risk of having children with birth defects such as Down syndrome. The children of older fathers also have higher rates of autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Men are increasingly found to be the "problem" in as many as half of all infertility cases due problems like low sperm count due to factors other than age.

The older you are when you have a child, the more likely you are to have a kid with psychological problems. Men who have kids when they're 55 or older are 37 percent more likely to have children who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder at some point in life.

Many researchers believe the risk factors for psychological disorders in children (like autism and schizophrenia) have more to do with genetics than age. Men's sperm can be affected by DNA mutations that come with age, which has a negative impact on the quality of the sperm being produced.

I'm sure a lot of women reading this are thinking, "Welcome to the party, pal." Many are probably well fed up with years of hearing the old saw about the woman hearing the tick of the biological clock in their 30s. It turns out, we're all on the same fertility clock, more or less. And it's time for men to start hearing the tick, too.
Posted by Susan at 6:54 AM
Labels: aging, DNA, Dr. Douglas, men's fertility, sperm

found male fertility begins to decline when they reach their mid-30s.

Men have biological clock too, claim researchers
Biological clocks are found in men as well as women, according to new research that found male fertility begins to decline when they reach their mid-30s.

By Ben Leach
Last Updated: 7:50PM GMT 26 Oct 2008

Scientists said men who wait until their 40s before starting a family face a greater chance of their partner having a miscarriage, because of the poorer quality of their sperm.

"Drops in fertility from the age of 35 have been traditionally thought of as a fact-of-life for women but our study shows the same is true for men," said Dr Mark Bowman, the director of a Sydney IVF clinic which carried out tests on 3,324 men over four years.

Their sperm DNA was tested to assess its "reproductive potential". The study showed that from the age of 35, the proportion of damaged sperm increased.

Dr Bowman added: "This means that even if a man produces the average of 40 million sperm per ejaculation, many of those sperm will not be able to fertilise an egg normally. He will have a lower fertility potential and be less likely to father a child."

The study is further evidence that men have a biological clock.

Earlier this year a study of more than 20,000 couples seeking fertility help found that middle-aged men are almost a third less likely to conceive with their partner than males under 35.

Doctors have long warned that too many young women are putting off starting a family until their late thirties or early forties, by which time their fertility levels have started to fall.

But the example of older celebrity fathers, including Sir Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart, may have encouraged many men to believe that they can postpone having children for much longer than women.

The research at the Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Paris found that the older a prospective father, the less chance that their partner would become pregnant. The study involved a form of fertility treatment, where the sperm is "washed'' before being inseminated into the woman. This helps the sperm to survive for longer.

For men between 30 and 35 the successful pregnancy rate was 13.6 per cent. But that fell to 9.3 per cent if the man was older than 45, a decrease of almost a third

The findings also showed that men over 35 were 75 per cent more likely to have their partner suffer a miscarriage. Although lower than the miscarriage rate for older mothers, which was more than twice that of younger mothers, the researchers still described it as significant.

They believe there could be a number of reasons behind the findings, including that the DNA of sperm decays over time.

Advanced Parental Age and the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

1: Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Oct 21. [Epub ahead of print]
Advanced Parental Age and the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Durkin MS, Maenner MJ, Newschaffer CJ, Lee LC, Cunniff CM, Daniels JL, Kirby RS, Leavitt L, Miller L, Zahorodny W, Schieve LA.
This study evaluated independent effects of maternal and paternal age on risk of autism spectrum disorder. A case-cohort design was implemented using data from 10 US study sites participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The 1994 birth cohort included 253,347 study-site births with complete parental age information. Cases included 1,251 children aged 8 years with complete parental age information from the same birth cohort and identified as having an autism spectrum disorder based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria. After adjustment for the other parent's age, birth order, maternal education, and other covariates, both maternal and paternal age were independently associated with autism (adjusted odds ratio for maternal age >/=35 vs. 25-29 years = 1.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 1.6; adjusted odds ratio for paternal age >/=40 years vs. 25-29 years = 1.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 1.8). Firstborn offspring of 2 older parents were 3 times more likely to develop autism than were third- or later-born offspring of mothers aged 20-34 years and fathers aged <40 years (odds ratio = 3.1, 95% confidence interval: 2.0, 4.7). The increase in autism risk with both maternal and paternal age has potential implications for public health planning and investigations of autism etiology.

PMID: 18945690 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Biological clock ticking for men too

Biological clock ticking for men too

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Biological clock ticking for men too

By Sophie Scott
Oct 22, 2008

The drop off in fertility for women after the age of 35 is well known. Now Australian researchers have found that men face a similar decline at the same age.

Sydney IVF researchers took sperm samples from more than 3,000 men and their DNA or genetic make-up was examined.

Mark Bowman from Sydney IVF says they found older men had less chance of fathering a child.

"They cannot take fertility absolutely for granted, there is also an impact of male age on fertility," he said.

Dr Kylie de Boer says the samples showed that as men age their sperm starts to fragment or break down, which makes the sperm less viable for fertilising the egg.

The older the man, the more damage, researchers found.

"The rate of DNA fragmentation of sperm increased with age and there was a significant DNA damage to sperm when the man was above the age of 35," Mr Bowman said.

Click on the link for the full article

The report said there was significant DNA damage to sperm in samples from men over the age of 35.

Men have their own biological clock
Published by Times of the Internet at 3:34 am under Top News
SYDNEY, Oct. 22 (UPI) —


An Australian study suggests men have a biological clock that signals a drop in fertility after the age of 35.



Researchers at Sydney IVF said sperm and DNA samples from more than 3,000 men shows DNA fragmentation of sperm increased with age, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.



The report said there was significant DNA damage to sperm in samples from men over the age of 35.



They cannot take fertility absolutely for granted, there is also an impact of male age on fertility, Mark Bowman of Sydney IVF said.



Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.

Biological clock ticking for men too

Biological clock ticking for men too
By medical reporter Sophie Scott

Posted 4 hours 46 minutes ago

Video: Male biological clock ticking too (ABC News) Map: Sydney 2000
The drop off in fertility for women after the age of 35 is well known. Now Australian researchers have found that men face a similar decline at the same age.

Sydney IVF researchers took sperm samples from more than 3,000 men and their DNA or genetic make-up was examined.

Mark Bowman from Sydney IVF says they found older men had less chance of fathering a child.

"They cannot take fertility absolutely for granted, there is also an impact of male age on fertility," he said.

Dr Kylie de Boer says the samples showed that as men age their sperm starts to fragment or break down, which makes the sperm less viable for fertilising the egg.

The older the man, the more damage, researchers found.

"The rate of DNA fragmentation of sperm increased with age and there was a significant DNA damage to sperm when the man was above the age of 35," Mr Bowman said.

And while the Rupert Murdochs of this world have fathered children later in life, the new research suggests they are the exception, not the rule.

One in six Australian couples end up seeking medical treatment because they cannot conceive and in almost half of those cases it is due to male infertility.

Mr Bowman says a healthy lifestyle is one way of holding back the years.

"The messages would be limit alcohol, don't smoke, eat a healthy diet, take anti-oxidants and probably spend more time with your partner," he said.


Tags: health, mens-health, reproduction-and-contraception, research, australia, nsw,

Older fathering of babies of any species leads often to tragedy for the offspring

Long-term effects of delayed fatherhood in mice on postnatal
development and behavioral traits of offspring1
Short title: Long-term effects of paternal age on offspring
Summary sentence: cmodel
Key words: delayed fatherhood long-term effects offspring
Silvia García-Palomares3, José F. Pertusa3, José Miñarro4, Miguel A. García-Pérez5,6,
Carlos Hermenegildo5,7, Francisco Rausell3, Antonio Cano8 and Juan J. Tarín2,3
1Supported by grant BFI2003-04761 from “Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología”, cofinanced by
the “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); grant ISCIII2006-PI0405 from “Instituto
de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo”,
cofinanced by the FEDER; and grants GV2004-B-206 and AE/2007/001 from “Generalitat
Valenciana, Conselleria d’Émpresa, Universitat i Ciencia”.
2Correspondence: Juan J. Tarín, Department of Functional Biology and Physical Anthropology,
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Valencia, Dr. Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot,
Valencia, Spain; Tel. 34-96-354 3221; E-mail: tarinjj@uv.es
3Department of Functional Biology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Biological Sciences,
University of Valencia, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain

Long-Term Effects of Delayed Fatherhood in Mice on Postnatal Development and Behavioral Traits of Offspring.

Biol Reprod. 2008 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]
Long-Term Effects of Delayed Fatherhood in Mice on Postnatal Development and Behavioral Traits of Offspring.
García-Palomares S, Pertusa JF, Miñarro J, García-Pérez MA, Hermenegildo C, Rausell F, Cano A, Tarín JJ.
This study aims to analyze, in mice, the long-term effects of delayed fatherhood on postnatal development, spontaneous motor activity and learning capacity of offspring. Hybrid parental-generation (F0) males, at the age of 12, 70, 100, and 120 weeks, were individually housed with a randomly-selected 12 week-old hybrid female. The resulting first-generation (F1) offspring were tested for several developmental and behavioral variables. Cumulative percentage of F1 pups that attained immediate righting in the 120-week group was lower than that found in the 12-, 70- and 100-week groups. Furthermore, the postnatal day of attaining immediate righting was higher in pups from the 120-week group when compared to pups from the other age groups. At the age of 20 weeks, F1 offspring from the 120-week group displayed lower counts of motor activity than offspring from the 12-, 70- and 100-week groups. One week later, a higher percentage of offspring from the 100- and 120- groups entered the dark compartment during the retention trial of the passive avoidance test when compared to offspring from the 12-week group. Offspring from the 120-week group exhibited also lower step-through latency in the retention trial than offspring from the 12-, 70- and 100-week groups. These results show that advanced paternal age at conception has long-term effects on preweaning development, spontaneous motor activity and reduced passive-avoidance learning capacity of mouse offspring.
PMID: 18923158 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Whose biological clock is ticking?

Whose biological clock is ticking?
Submitted by David on Sun, 2008-10-05 22:08
"Everybody was familiar with the concept of women's biological clock, but when we introduced 'male' to the equation, the reaction was 'What are you talking about? Men can have children at any age,'" recalls urologist Harry Fisch, director of the Male Reproductive Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and author of The Male Biological Clock. "It became a social issue. Men do not like to be told they have a problem."

Nonetheless, a virtual tidal wave of recent research has made it irrefutable: Not only does male fertility decrease decade by decade, especially after age 35, but aging sperm can be a significant and sometimes the only cause of severe health and developmental problems in offspring...

(excerpted from Psychology Today)

Overlap Found Between Autism, Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders

Psychiatr News October 3, 2008
Volume 43, Number 19, page 20
© 2008 American Psychiatric Association




Articles by Arehart-Treichel, J.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clinical & Research News


Overlap Found Between Autism, Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders
Joan Arehart-Treichel
Some patients may have traits of both autism and schizophrenia because the autism-spectrum and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders share some of the same susceptibility genes.

Although autism and schizophrenia are now generally recognized as two separate illnesses, there is reason to believe that autistic traits and schizophrenia traits co-occur in some individuals.

For instance, some children with autism disorder have been found to develop schizophrenia later in life, the negative symptoms of schizophrenia have been found to co-vary with autistic traits in certain schizophrenia subjects, and a link between autistic traits and schizophrenia traits was found in a sample of college students.

Now certain individuals with schizotypal personality disorder—considered the mildest schizophrenia-spectrum illness—have been found to possess an unusual preponderance of autistic traits. The results of the study, which was led by Michelle Esterberg, M.P.H., of Emory University, were published in the September Schizophrenia Research.

The study included 121 adolescent subjects—35 with schizotypal personality disorder; 38 with other types of personality disorders (antisocial, avoidant, borderline, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, or schizoid); and 48 with no personality disorders. The subjects were evaluated for various autistic characteristics, and the results for each group were then compared.

The schizotypal group scored significantly higher than the other two groups on a number of autistic traits. They included being socially anxious, having no close friends, using a limited number of facial expressions, not showing affection, being unaware of social cues, having circumscribed or unusual interests, and being resistant to change. Furthermore, the schizotypal group scored especially high on deficits in the social-functioning domain.

"The present findings indicate significant ... overlap between autism-spectrum and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders," Esterberg and her colleagues concluded.

Why might autistic traits and schizophrenia traits coexist in certain persons? Esterberg and her group suspect that it is because the autism-spectrum disorders and the schizophrenia-spectrum disorders share some of the same susceptibility genes or because some of the susceptibility genes contributing to each spectrum are occasionally inherited together.

For instance, individuals who lack genes on a particular stretch of chromosome 22—called the 22q11 chromosomal deletion—are known to be at heightened risk for both the autistic-spectrum and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, they pointed out, suggesting that some genes located in this stretch are complicit in both disorders (Psychiatric News, September 19).

But one point they are quite sure about, as are many other investigators, is that autism and schizophrenia are not identical illnesses. One reason is because 10 of their schizotypal subjects, as well as two other subjects from the "other personality disorder" category, developed schizophrenia during a three-year follow-up period. Yet the researchers could find no link between having autistic traits and subsequently developing schizophrenia.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

An abstract of "Childhood and Current Autistic Features in Adolescents With Schizotypal Personality Disorder" can be accessed at by clicking on "Browse A-Z," "S," and then "Schizophrenia Research."