Many women are acutely aware that age is a big factor in their ability to get pregnant, but what about males?
🥚 Unlike women’s ovaries which are born with a limited supply of eggs, the testicles can continuously produce sperm. Most men produce several million sperm per day.
🧬 While the percentage of female eggs that have an abnormal number of chromosomes goes up with time, recent studies have shown that this is not true for men. That is, the risk of aneuploidy (abnormal chromosome number) does not increase with age.
❗️ That said, some data increasing male age is associated with an increased time to pregnancy and decreased pregnancy rates. For example, a large study in the UK showed, after adjusting for female age, that couples with men over 40 were 30% less likely to get pregnant than those with men under 30, during 12 months
❗️ There are also slight but increased risks of psychologic disorders (such as schizophrenia and autism) and autosomal dominant disorders (such as achondroplasia) with increasing paternal age.
👨🏼⚕️ While it is not recommended that men freeze sperm to preserve their fertility, I do think it is worth bringing this up with your physician if you have questions or concerns regarding fatherhood after 40 or 50.