Wang
31-05-06, 00:33
Biological clock ticks for men too: study
Wed May 24, 1:37 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A man's fertility appears to decline after the age of 40, in much the same way that a woman's ability to conceive fades after 35, according to French researchers.
"Our results provide, for the first time, strong evidence for a paternal age effect on failure to conceive that is linked only to biological male aging," the study authors report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Their study, of nearly 2,000 couples undergoing fertility treatment, found that pregnancy attempts were 70 percent more likely to fail when the man was age 40 or older than if he were younger than 30 -- regardless of his wife's age.
Dr. Elise de La Rochebrochard of the French national health institute INSERM led the study.
According to the researchers, the lower IVF success rate among relatively older men may be due to poorer-quality sperm.
It has long been known that women are less likely to conceive after the age of 35 than before, de La Rochebrochard and her colleagues note. But the current findings, they write, suggest that for men, the age of 40 is similarly important.
"In reproduction," the researchers conclude, "age must no longer be considered as the concern of the woman, but as that of the couple."
The full article is here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/biological_clock_dc).
Wed May 24, 1:37 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A man's fertility appears to decline after the age of 40, in much the same way that a woman's ability to conceive fades after 35, according to French researchers.
"Our results provide, for the first time, strong evidence for a paternal age effect on failure to conceive that is linked only to biological male aging," the study authors report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Their study, of nearly 2,000 couples undergoing fertility treatment, found that pregnancy attempts were 70 percent more likely to fail when the man was age 40 or older than if he were younger than 30 -- regardless of his wife's age.
Dr. Elise de La Rochebrochard of the French national health institute INSERM led the study.
According to the researchers, the lower IVF success rate among relatively older men may be due to poorer-quality sperm.
It has long been known that women are less likely to conceive after the age of 35 than before, de La Rochebrochard and her colleagues note. But the current findings, they write, suggest that for men, the age of 40 is similarly important.
"In reproduction," the researchers conclude, "age must no longer be considered as the concern of the woman, but as that of the couple."
The full article is here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/biological_clock_dc).