Dr. Nancy Snyderman and The Male Biological Clock on the Today Show

http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/03/13/88225.aspx
caught up with Dr. Nancy after her segment on the male biological clock this morning. I asked her what the one take-away point should be from the segment, and she said quite simply: "There is one." That is, there IS a male biological clock, and it's something that everyone should take into account when family planning and deciding to have children. The female biological clock often receives the attention because it's a clear and simple fact -- women cannot have children after a certain age. However, men can still reproduce at any age, and that's the reason that the male risk factors often drop off the radar screen.

Some of the statistics are quite alarming, however. Of the nearly 6 million fertility problems in the US each year, roughly 40% of them are attributed to the man. Of all the babies born with Down Syndrome to women over the age of 35, HALF of them are actually sperm-related. (Source for both statistics: Dr. Harry Fisch, director of the Male Reproductive Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.) There are other studies out there that are still being discussed, with possible links between the male biological clock and diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.

And both men and women should be aware of the male biological risk factors, rather than solely focusing on the woman's age. She was emphatic about this story, and wants as many people to listen up as possible. WATCH VIDEO.

The NY Times science section On the male biological clock

Older fathers appear to raise risks of genetic disorders

By Roni Rabin Published: February 28, 2007





When it comes to fertility and the prospect of having normal babies, it has always been assumed that men have no biological clock — that unlike women, they can have it all, at any age.

But mounting evidence is raising questions about that assumption, suggesting that as men get older, they face an increased risk of fathering children with abnormalities. Several recent studies are starting to persuade many doctors that men should not be too cavalier about postponing marriage and children.

Until now, the problems known to occur more often with advanced paternal age were so rare they received scant public attention. The newer studies were alarming because they found higher rates of more common conditions — including autism and schizophrenia — in offspring born to men in their middle and late 40s. A number of studies also suggest that male fertility may diminish with age.

Sperm Banking In the Press In Mumbai and Delhi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Young_men_freeze_family_plans/articleshow/1746622.cms

Healthy young men in two cities in India are using cryobanking for future fathering of babies.

NEW DELHI: Call it innovative insurance. More and more young men in Delhi who are busy chasing fast-track careers, but are not yet ready to start a family, are choosing to freeze their sperms — to be used when they are ready.

More than 50% of the long-term frozen samples in Delhi's sole commercial sperm banking organisation, Cryogenie, are of healthy young men who are not ready for procreation and do not want to rely on donor sperms either.

Says Dr Iqbal Mehdi, head of cryobanking services at Cryogenie, "The long-term banking facility was initially started with malignancy patients in mind. People who undergo chemo or radiotherapy often suffer from low sperm counts so they store semen before the treatment starts. It was much later that we realised that freezing of sperms gave healthy individuals the option of starting a family when they want to, no matter what their age."


http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1080597


Add to this the changing attitude among women. With an increasing number putting marriage and children on a standby mode the average conceiving age of women is now early-30s, up from mid-20s a couple of years back.

This trend, however, has left women in urban India with an average of just 5-6 ‘good years’ to get pregnant. “Women are unwilling to wait. They would rather use the intrauterine insemination technique that involves injecting sperm in the uterus,” says Anjali Malpani.