Is the Clock Ticking?

It’s common wisdom that it’s harder for a woman to get pregnant as she gets older. Women are most likely to easily get pregnant between the ages of 19 and 26 and the rate of conception steadily ebbs thereafter. There is a significant decline starting at age 31 and there is a big drop off in fertility at age 37. The subfertility in older (!) women is due to the poor quality of aging eggs, fewer eggs in reserve and changing hormones. Additionally, as time passes women have more opportunity to acquire medical and surgical conditions.

Now it appears that what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Multiple studies haves shown that advancing age is a serious reproductive factor for men as well as for women. Animal studies show that older sperm contributors have lower fertilization rates, poorer embryo quality, increased miscarriages and smaller fetuses. Since sperm cells undergo many more replications there is more chance for mistakes to occur. Older fathers pass along many more genetic mutations than do younger men.

Observational data indicate that increasing weight in men leads to decreased fertility; observing a crowd of 35 year old men would indicate that they weigh more than when they were college seniors.

Men face the same time pressures as women. In the world of reproductive medicine, delayed childbearing is defined as older than age 30 for both men and women. Women have long heard the tick of their biologic clocks – perhaps it’s time for men to listen as well.