Paternal Age Over 40 Years: The “Amber Light” in the Reproductive Life of Men?

Elise de La Rochebrochard (1) , Ken Mcelreavey (2) , Patrick Thonneau (3)

1 Inserm U569 - Epidémiologie, Démographie et Sciences Sociales : santé reproductive, sexualité et infection à VIH
2 Reproduction, Fertilité et Populations
3 GRFH - Groupe de recherche en fertilité humaine

BACKGROUND. Although paternal age may be a risk factor for reproductive failure, unlike maternal age it has received little attention. We reviewed the existing literature, analyzing the effect of paternal age on two main reproductive failures: infertility and miscarriage. METHODS. We searched MEDLINE with the keyword “paternal age” and checked the exhaustiveness of our list of references. RESULTS. We found that published studies provided evidence that increasing paternal age could be a risk factor for reproductive failure. Several studies indicated that the risk of infertility increases in men in their late thirties. Furthermore, increased risk of miscarriage and late fetal deaths has been found when fathers were aged 35-40 years and over. CONCLUSIONS. The age of 40 years may be the male equivalent of the so-called “amber light” at 35 years in the reproductive life of women. Confirmation of the existence of a “cut-off age” in male fertility requires further investigation in large scale studies.

Mots clés: Spontaneous abortion; Fertility; Fetal death; Infertility; Paternal age

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Démographie

Elise de La Rochebrochard, Ken Mcelreavey, Patrick Thonneau. Paternal Age Over 40 Years: The “Amber Light” in the Reproductive Life of Men?. Journal of Andrology, 2003, 24 (4), pp.459-465. ⟨10.1002/j.1939-4640.2003.tb02694.x⟩. ⟨hal-02264970⟩