Given that several older actors in Hollywood, including Al Pacino, 83, and Robert De Niro, 79, have announced that they are expecting children, health experts warn that older fathers may pose a health risk to their kids.
The offspring of men over the age of 45 may still have “birth defects” and “childhood autism,” according to a study published in the international journal of midlife health Maturitas. However, the likelihood is still very low.
Since the time of the Bible, older men have been having children. It’s not a brand-new phenomenon. What we didn’t realize was that they might be resulting in children who are more likely to have issues, said Arthur Caplan, a professor of medical ethics at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, to NBC News.
According to a different study that was published in the National Library of Medicine, the older a father is, the more likely it is that his children will develop congenital illnesses like heart defects and mental health conditions like autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, low IQ, and ADHD.
According to the study, men also experience fertility loss as they age, just like women. Men struggle to produce “quality” sperm, which could result in genetic abnormalities in the unborn child, while older women struggle with issues that affect ovulation. As a result of these mutations, the child may eventually develop cancers like breast cancer and a typical form of childhood leukemia.
Dr. “Men should be aware that they, too, go through the same reproductive aging cycle as women, despite the fact that they don’t have menopause,” Gloria Bachmann, associate dean for women’s health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, told NBC News. ”.
Furthermore, this might have an impact on expectant mothers.
According to the Maturitas study, pregnant women may be at an increased risk for pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes, intrauterine growth restriction, and an increased chance of a premature birth for the unborn child.
According to researcher Dr. Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University School of Medicine, “the absolute risk does remain relatively low.”. “For one person, it might not have the same significance. But if we examine societal changes such as parents living longer, it is undeniable that there may be a measurable rise in some of these disorders on a population level. ”.
He told the publication that, on average, men experience two mutations in their sperm DNA each year, which is why the likelihood that their offspring will be born with a genetic disorder rises as they get older.
The news that Pacino was expecting his first child with girlfriend Noor Alfallah and his fourth child overall was confirmed by PEOPLE on Thursday. In an interview with ET Canada last week, De Niro disclosed that he and girlfriend Tiffany Chen had welcomed their seventh child, a girl they named Gia Virginia Chen De Niro.
