Battling to have a baby? It might not be that the female partner's biological clock is nearing the stroke of midnight; a new study has found that older age affects male fertility too and the time it takes to successfully conceive.
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Researchers from the University of Hull in the UK have discovered that it takes a man over the age of 45, five times as long to impregnate a women than if he were under 25.
A unique study
The study is unique as it is the first time that such a strong connection was drawn between age, male fertility and the amount of time it takes for a woman to conceive. In fact, statistically, the association was even stronger than that with a woman's age.
It has always been assumed that because men make sperm everyday and women have a limited number of eggs, the effect of the man's age on fertility is not such a big issue. Until now.
Man's age matters
The study leader was Dr Stephen Killick, a professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Hull, and the team's findings were published in the June issue of Fertility and Sterility.
Killick's team compared the time it took 2112 pregnant women to conceive, by asking the women to fill out a questionnaire about how long it took them to fall pregnant. They were also asked for their age and their partner's age. The lifestyle characteristics of both partners were included as well.
Researchers found associations with known factors that decrease fertility such as alcohol use, smoking and caffeine consumption, but what really stood out was age.
Men under 25 are the most fertile
Killick's team found that the average time that it took for a woman with a male partner under the age of 20 to conceive was 4,5 months, this rose to 26 months for a man aged 50. When compared to men under the age of 25, men over 45 were almost five times as likely to take more than a year to impregnate their partner and more than 12 times as likely to take over two years to do so.
Even after other factors like the frequency of sexual intercourse and the age of the female partner were accounted for, researchers still found age to be a major contributing factor.
Even cowboys shoot blanks
It is incorrect to assume that just because a man is functioning one hundred percent sexually, that his fertility will continue, says urologist Dr Peter Schlegel from Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.
Experts agree that male fertility starts to slide at 30 and abruptly declines after 45, this is because the quality of sperm decreases as men age. The decrease is further exacerbated by conditions that hamper sperm production, such as an undescended testicle.
Parental age is important
Killick's study, say experts, takes the onus of fertility off the woman. Men also have a biological clock that affects fertility and doctors need to be aware of this. Parental age is what matters at the end of the day.
The participants in the study were all pregnant, so the researchers believe that their results may actually underestimate the effect of male age on fertility. The only way to find this out would be to include couples that were trying unsuccessfully to have a baby in a future study.
Killick says that the study results should not worry couples who are trying to conceive; instead it should be heartening as it increases the understanding of natural conception. And this, in turn, will improve fertility treatments in the future. – (Health24)
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