A significant body of evidence shows that men should not wait too late to have children, because the offspring of older fathers are at greater risk of autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as well as lower IQs and poorer academic performance.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers at Indiana University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
Having analysed the outcomes of more than two million children born between 1973 and 2001, the researchers found that children born to a 45-year-old man were 13 times more likely to have ADHD than those born to a 24-year-old man. They were also 3.5 times more likely to have autism and 25 times more likely to have bipolar disorder.
'The specific associations with paternal age were much, much larger than in previous studies. In fact, we found that advancing paternal age was associated with greater risk for several problems such as ADHD, suicide attempts and substance use problems,' said Brian D'Onofrio, lead author and associate professor at Indiana University.
Because male sperm is constantly replicating, each time there is a chance for a mutation in the DNA to occur. Men are also exposed to environmental toxins as they age, which has been proved to cause DNA mutations in sperm. Although many men are still having children into their 50s and 60s, molecular genetic studies have shown that the sperm of older men have far more mutations than those of younger men
Dr Allan Pacey, fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, advises men to have children as young as possible. 'Men don't have the menopause, they don't stop their ability to have children as they age, but what we do see is their partners struggle to get pregnant and have more miscarriages and they increase the risk of their children having a range of problems.'
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