Fertility Less in Men Over 40: Study

Women's pregnancy rates drop and miscarriages increase when the baby's father is over 40 years old, according to a study to be released Monday.

A new study has revealed that rates of pregnancy in women drop and risk of miscarriage increase if the father is over 40.

It has long been known that a woman's chance of reproducing declines with age once she is in her mid-thirties, but the new findings provide the strongest evidence to date that being an older father poses a risk as well.

About Male Infertility
Encyclopedia section of medindia briefs you about the Genetics of Male Infertility

Researchers in France monitored 21,239 cases of intrauterine insemination (IUI) -- a particularly effective type of artificial insemination -- in more than 12,000 couples.

As expected, they found that women over 35 showed significantly decreased pregnancy rates compared to younger women, as well as higher rates of miscarriage.

"But we also demonstrated that the age of the father was important in the rate of pregnancy, with a negative effect for men over 40," said Stephanie Belloc, a researcher at the Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Paris, and lead author of the study.

Infertility - Causes - Diagnosis - Treatment - FAQs
Infertility is a condition wherein couples fail to achieve pregnancy or if the woman has been unable to carry a pregnancy that results in a live birth.

"And even more surprising, the proportion of miscarriages went up as well," she added.

Belloc was to present her research Monday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona. They will be published in the British journal Reproductive Biomedicine.

Male Fertility Adversely Affected by Paint Chemicals
Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester have found that male painters exposed to glycol ethers found in water-based paints are more likely to have poor semen quality.

In IUI treatment, sperm are separated from seminal fluid in a centrifuge. The "washed" sperm are then inserted directly into the uterus in order to enhance the chances of conception.

In most of the cases examined, the couples were being treated because of the husband's infertility, but the findings also apply to men without such problems, the researchers said.

Want a Baby? No Hot Baths Please!
Exposure to hot baths or hot tubs on a regular basis can lead to male infertility, according to a new study conducted by University of California

"There is no doubt that we can extrapolate from the study to men in general," said co-author Yves Menezo, also a researcher at the Eylau Centre.

Although previous research has shown an overall decline in sperm count and quality as men age decade by decade, this is the first clinical proof that simply being an older man has a direct effect on a couple's fertility, he said.

"We already believed that couples where the man was older took longer to conceive," said Belloc in a statement. "But how DNA damage in older men translates into clinical practice has not been shown up to now."

The impact of paternal age on artificial insemination outcomes "should be considered by both doctors and patients in assisted reproduction," she added.

Source-AFP
RAS/L