A Reason for the Rise in Schizophrenia, Autism, diabetes, Alzheimer

You're never too old to be a dad
By Gazette Reporter

Pick up a copy of this week's Gazette to vote on your favourite picture of daddy
With new parents getting older and older, a pipe and slippers might be a fitting addition to the gift list for this Sunday's Father's Day.

Certainly, more than 75,000 British babies a year are born to fathers aged 40 and over - that's more than one in 10 of all births - and over 6,000 of these babies have dads aged over 50.

Such dads have very famous counterparts, of course - Rod Stewart was 60 when his youngest son, Alistair, was born, movie star Michael Douglas was 58 when his wife Catherine Zeta Jones gave birth to their daughter Carys, and Charlie Chaplin was 73 when his youngest son Christopher was born.

While not quite reaching daddy Chaplin's impressive years, the average age of men who father a child in the UK is certainly creeping up, and now stands at 32.

And while a new study this week found that men around this age enjoy being a father the most, it also concluded that becoming a father has the biggest effect on dads in their late 40s.

Of dads aged between 46-50 questioned in a study by Colief Infant Drops, 46% said fatherhood had changed their perspective on life.

advertisementAdrienne Burgess, research manager at think-tank The Fatherhood Institute, says this will be because older fathers have lived more of their lives and are ready for changes.

"In the 1970s when people got married and had babies younger, a lot of the dads weren't anywhere near ready, financially and in other ways,"

she says.

"Now that it's happening more when they're older, they're in a better place."

Burgess points out that while the age of fathers is increasing, plenty of them are second-time around dads because of family breakdown.

"Many of them are in a position to feel more confident financially, and they're also embracing the whole idea of being able to be closer to their children, which hadn't been acceptable before.

"They've been released and allowed to do it, in a way."

However, the Colief survey found older dads (aged 46-55) believed fatherhood had left them out of pocket, with 43% saying the expense was the worst thing about being a dad. In contrast, 37% of younger dads (aged 22-25) thought lack of sleep was the worst aspect.

Burgess admits: "The older dads who are becoming fathers for the first time in, say, their late 40s, are more likely to be financially worried.

"The younger men can see many years of good earning ahead of them, but the older dads aren't so sure and may be worried about how they're going to afford a teenager when they're 65, or older."

She points out that life expectancy is going up, and while there is an increased risk of older fathers dying when their children are still young, it's only a very small risk.

And she stresses: "There's clear evidence that for many men who become fathers later on, especially when they've got children from a previous relationship, it's a revelation and it's an absolutely wonderful experience having a child.

"It's because they're becoming fathers at a time when they're much more prepared and mentally involved. Often they are more financially secure, and they know who they are and where they're going.

"They've had a busy life and done a lot of things, and while they may not have as much energy as a man in his 20s, they're really happy to be at home and to be with this young child."

However, while older fathers may rejoice at becoming a dad, there are possible health implications for their babies.

A recent Danish study found that children whose fathers were over 45 when they were born were almost twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood as those fathered by men aged between 25 and 30.

The researchers believe the findings may be linked to the declining quality of sperm as men age.

Previous studies have also found that children of older fathers are more likely to have Down's syndrome, or suffer congenital defects such as heart and spine problems, as well as develop rare childhood cancers, and conditions including autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

It's an alarming catalogue of potential problems, but Burgess suggests that such negative outcomes are "very strongly" linked to lifestyle factors, and stresses: "An older dad who hasn't had a life of bad health behaviour is much more likely to have a child that's okay.

"The health messages need to get out there to dads - and men who want to be dads, whatever their age."

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology - the study of male reproduction - at the University of Sheffield, says that while a bad lifestyle will certainly "make things worse", age alone can still have its own effects on reproduction.

He says: "It's not been studied in a controlled way, but it's certainly not the case that leading a healthy lifestyle will protect fathers from the effects of ageing."

He says that any man above the age of 40 would be considered an older father - 40 is the age at which men will no longer be accepted as sperm donors, for example.

"The list of problems which can result gets a lot longer after a man gets to the age of 40," he warns.

"We've known for a long time that the older a father is, the more likely his offspring are to have a number of health problems.

"They're not as common as those related to older mothers can be - you're still more likely to have Down's because your mum was older than because your dad was older - but the effect is still detectable statistically."

Pacey also warns that men above the age of 40 are thought to be about half as fertile as men aged under 25, explaining that although older men still have the same number of sperm, "clearly there's something happening at molecular level."

He adds: "The risks of having a baby with a problem when you're older are small, but they're detectable.

"What I would say is if you're delaying having children for no good reason, perhaps just because it never seems to be the right time, you should really think again."

11:38am today

Have Your Parents Young

Have Your Parents Young
June 15th, 2008 · No Comments
Happy Father’s Day! When it comes to fatherly advice, I have none. Obviously. I am neither male, nor a parent. But I do have something I learned from my dad: he always says it’s better to have your children when you’re young. In other words, get on it. This article seems to agree, although the focus of the article confused me…it seems to be written for children, implying that, “For your sake, it’s better if your parents are young when they have you.”

Um…what is the point of warning someone about an event that is completely out of their control? Hello? What is a child supposed to be able to do about the age of its parents?

Ok, ok, I know that’s not really the point of the article. The real point is that a large study has shown that deaths of children fathered by men over the age of 45 occurred at almost twice the rate of those fathered by men aged between 25 and 30. Death by what, you ask? Congenital defects, autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy.

Researchers believe the findings are linked to the declining quality of sperm as men age. Now there’s a sentence I never imagined myself writing.

Just in case you’re one of those children who couldn’t convince your parents to have you when they were younger, don’t get all worried. If you’re reading this, you’re fine; the majority of these premature deaths occurred when the offspring of the old men were less than a year old.

To my unborn child(ren),
Don’t get all anxious after reading this article and decide to show up before your alloted time. Daddy’s not that old yet!
Sincerely,
Mom

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"People shouldn't be too confident that just because the baby looks normal there is no damage there that won't appear later in life," he said.

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Expert calls for vigilance on IVF technology
By Anna Salleh for ABC Science Online

Posted Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:46am AEST


A 3D ultrasound showing a foetus inside the womb. (Getty Images)
As humans become more dependent on reproductive technologies, an Australian reproductive biologist says we must remain vigilant to avoid the spread of genetic defects.

The warning comes in an editorial by Professor John Aitken, of the University of Newcastle, in the current issue of Expert Review of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"People shouldn't be too confident that just because the baby looks normal there is no damage there that won't appear later in life," he said.

"People underestimate how much genetic damage they're passing onto the embryos."

Professor Aitkin says one in every 35 babies born in Australia are a result of IVF.

"In some countries it's more like one in 20 and there are models that predict it will be one in 10 before too long," he said.

Professor Aitken says because IVF allows infertile men to reproduce, the more we use it the more it will be needed in the future.

"So we better make sure it's safe because a large proportion of the population will be generated in this way," he said.


Ageing sperm

Professor Aitken says a number of factors are known, or suspected, to cause genetic damage to sperm that do not necessarily cause defects obvious at birth.

For example, Professor Aitken says the sperm of ageing males is thought to contribute to conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

He says there is strong evidence linking sperm DNA damage to smoking, which can lead to the development of childhood cancers.

Epigenetic changes to sperm DNA that can affect fertility through several generations have also been reported.

For example, several recent papers have shown that infertile men have a dramatically altered DNA methylation profile.


Screening and monitoring

Professor Aitken says genetic problems mean it is important that reproductive clinics do a good job at screening sperm samples for genetic damage.

He is presenting the latest evidence on one screening technique he is developing with biotech company nuGEN at the Australian Research Council's Graeme Clark Research Outcomes Forum in Canberra next week.

But Professor Aitken says long-term monitoring of children born through IVF and other reproductive technologies is also essential, because such techniques can not pick up epigenetic damage.

"There are all kinds of things that can and could still go wrong," he said.

While he says IVF children are being monitored, he is concerned about complacency among clinics who celebrate their ability to produce normal looking babies from sperm with high levels of DNA damage.


IVF defended

Professor Michael Chapman of the Fertility Society of Australia, who also works for IVF Australia, says genetic damage is considered by IVF clinics.

"They're concerns that are shared within the IVF profession," he said.

Professor Chapman says one rare epigenetic disease has shown up in IVF children, at a rate of one in 1,500 versus one in 5,000 in the general population.

But he says Professor Aitken's "provocative" article overstates the problem since in the 20 years that IVF has been around, few long-term problems have arisen, despite thousands of children being monitored.

"I'm sure that if something starts to turn up, it will jump out at us," he said.

Sandra Hill, chief executive officer of ACCESS Australia, a group led by patients seeking IVF treatment, is confident that IVF is well-monitored, and she agrees this should continue.

But she says many of the concerns raised by Professor Aitken also apply to natural conception and she thinks the use of IVF should not be singled out.

She says it could be useful to educate men in general about the concerns raised by Professor Aitken - especially the need for men to have children before they get too old.

Professor Aitken says this may be so, but IVF still presents a unique challenge.

"With IVF you are facilitating the fertilisation of eggs with sperm that would otherwise be unsuccessful," he said.

Professor Aitken also says the rate of birth defects in IVF children are up to twice that of normally-conceived children, although he expects that to improve as techniques improve.

Low Birth Weight and Prematurity May Raise Baby’s Risk for Autism -- Especially Girls of Older Fathers

Older age of fathers through mutations to sperm DNA causes genes controlling brain development to degrade. Low birth weight is found in daughters of older fathers and so is schizophrenia and autism.



Low Birth Weight and Prematurity May Raise Baby’s Risk for Autism
By Anna Boyd
12:20, June 3rd 2008 6 votes
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Infants born before term and underweight, especially baby-girls are twice as likely to develop autism, a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in the June edition of the journal Pediatrics revealed.

Autism is a brain development disorder that appears before a child turns three years old; it has a serious impact on social interaction and communication. According to the CDC, one in 150 children in the U.S. now suffers from autism or related disorders that are known to belong to the autism spectrum.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for autism, but proper guidance and prognosis can hugely affect the behavior. The bad news is that some three to six children out f every 1,000 will develop autism, according to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Males are four times more likely to develop the disorder than girls.

For the study, researchers at the CDC compared data from 565 children in Atlanta born between 1986 and 1993 who were suffering from autism with a group of babies who served as control.

The analysis showed that baby girls weighing less than 5.5 pounds had 3.5 times increased risk of autism. Also, prematurity seemed to influence, as baby girls born more than seven weeks early had a 5.4 times increased risk of autism. For boys, the birth weight and prematurity didn’t have a significant difference in their risk of being autistic.

The findings suggest that, even though autism is partly genetic, partly caused by environment factors, boys and girls appear to have different risk factors for the disorder, said study author Diana Schendel of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC in Atlanta.

“What is new in this study is the in-depth look at the gender effect,” Xinhua quotes Schendel.

It has long been known that babies born before term have long-term disabilities, such as chronic lung disease, blindness, deafness, and neurodevelopmental problems or worse they are three times more likely to die during the first year of life, especially in the first month of life. Unfortunately, about one in eight births (totaling more than 520,000 babies) in the U.S. is premature.

The findings of the CDC study reinforce once again the importance of monitoring children who are born underweight or early for behavioral problems so they can get the necessary treatment at the right time, Schendel said.

Also, women are urged to seek prenatal care as early as possible and discuss everything with their doctor related to their pregnancy and the symptoms they have. They are urged not to smoke, have a balanced diet and exercise daily. And most important of all they should not worry, as stress is the worst enemy for their unborn baby.

The CDC study is not the first to link prematurity with major birth defects. Just last week, researchers from the CDC, the March of Dimes and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine released a report according to which the dramatic rise in preterm births is also due to the increase in C-section deliveries in the U.S. The analysis revealed that 92 percent of the increase in singleton premature birth is due to C-sections, which is pretty amazing, Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director and senior vice president of the March of Dimes, said.

'The risks of older fatherhood can be very profound and it is not something that people are always aware of.'

Children born to men in their 20s are nearly twice as likely to survive to the age of 19, the new study says



'The risks of older fatherhood can be very profound and it is not something that people are always aware of.'


Children of older fathers are almost twice as likely to die before adulthood, research shows.
A study of more than 100,000 children revealed those fathered by over-45s were much less likely to live to be 19 than those born to men in their late 20s.
It is thought increased rates of birth defects as well as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy stack the odds against children of older fathers.