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The effect of father’s age in fertile, subfertile, and assisted reproductive technology pregnancies: A population based cohort study

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

To compare ages of mothers and of fathers at delivery in couples who are fertile, subfertile, and subfertile treated with assisted reproductive technology (ART) and to characterize birth outcomes in the ART population according to paternal age.

Methods

Live birth deliveries in Massachusetts between July, 2004 and December, 2008 were identified from vital records and categorized by maternal fertility status and treatment as ART, subfertile or fertile. The ART births were linked to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System (SART CORS) database to obtain cycle-specific treatment data. Parental ages were obtained from birth certificates. Age of mothers and fathers were compared using ANOVA for continuous measures and χ 2 for categories. Risks of prematurity (<37 weeks), low birthweight (<2,500 g), and low birthweight z-score (small for gestatational age, SGA) were modeled using logistic regression by categories of paternal age as adjusted odds ratios and 95 % CI.

Results

The study population included 9,092 ART, 6,238 subfertile, and 318,816 fertile deliveries. Paternal ages in the ART and subfertile groups were similar and differed significantly from those of the fertile group. Maternal age in the ART and subfertile groups averaged 5–6 years older than their fertile counterparts and fathers averaged 4–5 years older with twice as many being older than 37. The risks for prematurity, low birthweight and SGA did not increase with increasing paternal age.

Conclusions

Fathers in ART- treated and subfertile couples are older than in their fertile counterparts. Older paternal age was not assoicated with increased risk for prematurity, low birthweight, or SGA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank additional MOSART team members for analytic and programming contributions: Eugene Declercq, PhD, Marlene Anderka, PhD, Bruce Cohen, PhD, Dmitry Kissin, PhD, Candice Belanoff, ScD, Daksha Gopal, Lan Hoang, Donna Richard, Katrina Plummer.

SART thanks all of its members for providing clinical information to the SART CORS database for use by patients and researchers. Without the efforts of SART members, this research would not have been possible.

This work was supported by R01HD064595 and R01HD067270. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the National Institutes of Health.

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Correspondence to Judy E. Stern.

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Capsule

At delivery, maternal and paternal ages were older in subfertile and ART treated women than in fertile women; outcome did not differ by paternal age.

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Stern, J.E., Luke, B., Hornstein, M.D. et al. The effect of father’s age in fertile, subfertile, and assisted reproductive technology pregnancies: A population based cohort study. J Assist Reprod Genet 31, 1437–1444 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-014-0327-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-014-0327-8

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