• Association between paternal age and health risk for offspring
  • Shirin Shahbaizi Sighaldeh,1,*
    1. Reproductive health department, Nursing and midwifery school, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Introduction: The impact of maternal age on offespring’s health is extinsively studied and described, but the parental’s age effects are less recognized. In this article we aim to provide an overview of the epidemiologic evidence regarding any adverse health effect in the fetus and children of fathers of advanced parental age and discuss public health implications.
  • Methods: Methods: This is a review of articles regarding the epidemiologic evidence for adverse health effect in offspring of fathers of advanced age.
  • Results: Results: The adverse conditions most consistently associated with increased paternal age are stillbirths, musculoskeletal syndromes, cleft palate, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, retinoblastoma and neurodevelopmental disorders in the autism spectrum and schizophrenia.
  • Conclusion: Conclusion: We conclude that the adverse health effects in children that might be caused by increase in paternal age are severe but quantitatively of minor importance. However, identification of morbidities that are more frequent may lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis behind such conditions.
  • Keywords: Paternal age ,Offspring, Morbidity, Health risk