The negative effect of age on female fertility is generally known. In women, the quantity and quality of eggs decrease with the passage of time, which hinders the possibility of achieving pregnancy. However, the effect of age on male fertility and whether it has an impact on assisted reproductive outcomes is more unknown.
Nevertheless, it is a very important issue, as today's lifestyle may be associated with an increase in the age at which to become a parent.
Provided below is an index with the 7 points we are going to expand on in this article.
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 4.1.
- 4.2.
- 4.3.
- 4.4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
Effects on semen quality
Sperm quality may deteriorate with age. There seems to be a clearer affectation in seminal volume and sperm motility in older men. Similarly, there may also be an increase in the percentage of sperm with fragmented DNA in older males.
However, not all studies have found the same results regarding the affectation of seminal parameters with male age.
On the other hand, there seems to be a negative effect with male age on some aneuploidies (alterations in the number of chromosomes) in spermatozoa. In addition, other types of genetic alterations also appear to be increased in the sperm of older males. This is the case of duplications, deletions, and certain translocations.
In addition, the accumulation of mutations and epigenetic changes (changes in gene function) with age could lead to an increased risk of alterations in offspring. Thus, advanced paternal age has been associated with certain psychiatric and neurological syndromes and disorders.
Results in ART
It is common to study the effect of paternal age on the results of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) in oocyte donation cycles. This strategy allows the effect of maternal age to be separated, since the egg donors are young women.
Assisted procreation, as any other medical treatment, requires that you rely on the professionalism of the doctors and staff of the clinic you choose. Obviously, each clinic is different. Get now your Fertility Report, which will select several clinics for you out of the pool of clinics that meet our strict quality criteria. Moreover, it will offer you a comparison between the fees and conditions each clinic offers in order for you to make a well informed choice.
Despite this, unfortunately, there is no clear conclusion on the effect of paternal age on ART outcomes. There may be a decrease in the fertilization rate when the male is around 45-50 years old. Similarly, a decrease in blastocyst formation rate and pregnancy rate is possible if the male is older.
In contrast, the rate of miscarriage and embryonic aneuploidy may be increased in older men. This could make a preimplantation genetic study (PGT) of the embryos advisable, especially in men over 50 years of age who undergo ART. In this way, the transfer of embryos with certain genetic alterations to your partner would be avoided.
On the other hand, there is a paucity of studies that perform long-term follow-up of the offspring of aged parents after ART.
Paternity delay
What does seem to be clear is that paternal age has a smaller effect than maternal age on reproductive outcomes. Despite this, men should not delay fatherhood.
Males do not undergo "menopause" and continue to produce sperm at an advanced age. However, there is a decline in male fertility with age to conceive naturally. In addition, the effects of paternal age on ART outcomes are unclear.
Last, but even more important, is the possible adverse effect that advanced paternal age may have on the offspring as we have seen above.
FAQs from users
Is there an age limit for male fertility treatments?
There is no age limit for men when undergoing fertility treatment. Men, unlike women, do not have an age where fertility is drastically terminated.
Semen parameters such as concentration, motility, morphology or volume gradually decrease over time. Other semen parameters such as DNA fragmentation tend to increase as the years go by.
In general, all these semen changes and age-related diseases affect fertility and the results of reproductive treatments. However, in principle, there is no age limit where fertility treatments are inadvisable for males.
Up to what age is parenthood recommended?
The impact of paternal age on reproductive and neonatal outcomes has always been underestimated, as the focus has been on maternal age, which is much more determinant. However, paternal age has also been negatively related to fertility.
Firstly, age decreases the chances of achieving pregnancy naturally, as the number of spermatozoa decreases after the age of 40, and in addition, the sperm will have a greater fragmentation of their DNA. It is true, however, that these factors will not affect pregnancy rates using techniques such as in vitro fertilisation.
There are also studies that have shown an increased risk of premature births or low birth weight in children born to fathers aged 35 or older, although these findings are not entirely clear. Another aspect is the relationship between paternal age, especially after the age of 50, with a slight increase in the risk of autism and schizophrenia.
Therefore, it could be said that in general the ideal age to be a father would be below 40. From this point onwards, the chances of conceiving naturally start to decrease and there will be an increase, albeit minimal, in the genetic risks for the offspring. However, this does not mean that parenthood is discouraged above this age. Assisted reproduction techniques can compensate for this decrease in fertility and the risks involved will be very low.
Is there a legal age limit to become a parent through assisted reproduction in Spain?
No. Law 14/2006 on ART does not establish an age limit for the application of assisted reproductive techniques in men, as long as the woman is of legal age.
However, in the case of women, there seems to be a widely accepted consensus that assisted reproductive treatments should not be performed on women over 50 years of age. However, there does not seem to be such an agreement in the male case.
What are the advantages of assisted reproduction for older men?
One advantage of assisted reproduction when the age of the male partner is advanced is that, with techniques such as ICSI, certain problems in sperm quality that age may have caused can be overcome.
On the other hand, assisted reproduction also offers the possibility of carrying out a pre-implantation genetic test on embryos (especially if the couple is of advanced maternal age). In this way, embryos with genetic alterations would not be transferred.
Recommended readings
If you want to learn more, you can visit the following link: Sperm quality: how it is measured and what to do to improve it.
If, on the other hand, you are interested in the best age to become a mother, we recommend you read this article: What is the best biological age to become a mother?
We make a great effort to provide you with the highest quality information.
🙏 Please share this article if you liked it. 💜💜 You help us continue!
References
Beguería R, García D, Obradors A, Poisot F, Vassena R, Vernaeve V. Paternal age and assisted reproductive outcomes in ICSI donor oocytes: is there an effect of older fathers? Hum Reprod. 2014 Oct 10;29(10):2114-22.
Belloc S, Hazout A, Zini A, Merviel P, Cabry R, Chahine H, Copin H, Benkhalifa M. How to overcome male infertility after 40: Influence of paternal age on fertility. Maturitas. 2014 May;78(1):22-9.
Bellver J, Garrido N, Remohí J, Pellicer A, Meseguer M. Influence of paternal age on assisted reproduction outcome. Reprod Biomed Online. 2008 Nov;17(5):595-604.
Bertoncelli Tanaka M, Agarwal A, Esteves SC. Paternal age and assisted reproductive technology: problem solver or trouble maker? Panminerva Med. 2019 Jun;61(2):138-151.
Brandt JS, Cruz Ithier MA, Rosen T, Ashkinadze E. Advanced paternal age, infertility, and reproductive risks: A review of the literature. Prenat Diagn. 2019 Jan;39(2):81-87.
Carrasquillo RJ, Kohn TP, Cinnioglu C, Rubio C, Simon C, Ramasamy R, Al-Asmar N. Advanced paternal age does not affect embryo aneuploidy following blastocyst biopsy in egg donor cycles. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2019 Oct;36(10):2039-2045.
Colaco S, Sakkas D. Paternal factors contributing to embryo quality. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2018 Nov;35(11):1953-1968.
Dain L, Auslander R, Dirnfeld M. The effect of paternal age on assisted reproduction outcome. Fertil Steril. 2011 Jan;95(1):1-8.
Donate A, Estop AM, Giraldo J, Templado C. Paternal Age and Numerical Chromosome Abnormalities in Human Spermatozoa. Cytogenet Genome Res. 2016;148(4):241-8.
Fainberg J, Kashanian JA. Recent advances in understanding and managing male infertility. F1000Res. 2019 May 16;8:F1000 Faculty Rev-670.
du Fossé NA, van der Hoorn MP, van Lith JMM, le Cessie S, Lashley EELO. Advanced paternal age is associated with an increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod Update. 2020 Sep 1;26(5):650-669.
Frattarelli JL, Miller KA, Miller BT, Elkind-Hirsch K, Scott RT Jr. Male age negatively impacts embryo development and reproductive outcome in donor oocyte assisted reproductive technology cycles. Fertil Steril. 2008 Jul;90(1):97-103.
García-Ferreyra J, Hilario R, Dueñas J. High percentages of embryos with 21, 18 or 13 trisomy are related to advanced paternal age in donor egg cycles. JBRA Assist Reprod. 2018 Mar 1;22(1):26-34.
García-Ferreyra J, Luna D, Villegas L, Romero R, Zavala P, Hilario R, Dueñas-Chacón J. High Aneuploidy Rates Observed in Embryos Derived from Donated Oocytes are Related to Male Aging and High Percentages of Sperm DNA Fragmentation. Clin Med Insights Reprod Health. 2015 Nov 11;9:21-7.
Ghuman NK, Mair E, Pearce K, Choudhary M. Does age of the sperm donor influence live birth outcome in assisted reproduction? Hum Reprod. 2016 Mar;31(3):582-90.
Halvaei I, Litzky J, Esfandiari N. Advanced paternal age: effects on sperm parameters, assisted reproduction outcomes and offspring health. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2020 Nov 13;18(1):110.
Kaarouch I, Bouamoud N, Madkour A, Louanjli N, Saadani B, Assou S, Aboulmaouahib S, Amzazi S, Copin H, Benkhalifa M, Sefrioui O. Paternal age: Negative impact on sperm genome decays and IVF outcomes after 40 years. Mol Reprod Dev. 2018 Mar;85(3):271-280.
Liu K, Case A; REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY AND INFERTILITY COMMITTEE. Advanced reproductive age and fertility. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2011 Nov;33(11):1165-1175.
Ma NZ, Chen L, Hu LL, Dai W, Bu ZQ, Sun YP. The influence of male age on treatment outcomes and neonatal birthweight following assisted reproduction technology involving intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Andrologia. 2018 Feb;50(1).
Mazur DJ, Lipshultz LI. Infertility in the Aging Male. Curr Urol Rep. 2018 May 17;19(7):54.
Nijs M, De Jonge C, Cox A, Janssen M, Bosmans E, Ombelet W. Correlation between male age, WHO sperm parameters, DNA fragmentation, chromatin packaging and outcome in assisted reproduction technology. Andrologia. 2011 Jun;43(3):174-9.
Robertshaw I, Khoury J, Abdallah ME, Warikoo P, Hofmann GE. The effect of paternal age on outcome in assisted reproductive technology using the ovum donation model. Reprod Sci. 2014 May;21(5):590-3.
de La Rochebrochard E, Thonneau P. Paternal age >or=40 years: an important risk factor for infertility. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003 Oct;189(4):901-5.
Sagi-Dain L, Sagi S, Dirnfeld M. Effect of paternal age on reproductive outcomes in oocyte donation model: a systematic review. Fertil Steril. 2015 Oct;104(4):857-865.e1.
Sagi-Dain L, Sagi S, Dirnfeld M. The Effect of Paternal Age on Oocyte Donation Outcomes. Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2016 May;71(5):301-6.
Sharma R, Agarwal A, Rohra VK, Assidi M, Abu-Elmagd M, Turki RF. Effects of increased paternal age on sperm quality, reproductive outcome and associated epigenetic risks to offspring. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2015 Apr 19;13:35.
Whitcomb BW, Turzanski-Fortner R, Richter KS, Kipersztok S, Stillman RJ, Levy MJ, Levens ED. Contribution of male age to outcomes in assisted reproductive technologies. Fertil Steril. 2011 Jan;95(1):147-51.
Wu Y, Kang X, Zheng H, Liu H, Huang Q, Liu J. Effect of Paternal Age on Reproductive Outcomes of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. PLoS One. 2016 Feb 22;11(2):e0149867.
Yatsenko AN, Turek PJ. Reproductive genetics and the aging male. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2018 Jun;35(6):933-941.
FAQs from users: 'Is there an age limit for male fertility treatments?', 'Up to what age is parenthood recommended?', 'Is there a legal age limit to become a parent through assisted reproduction in Spain?' and 'What are the advantages of assisted reproduction for older men?'.
Authors and contributors
More information about Cristina Algarra Goosman
Hi, if we have less volume with age does that mean I won’t be able to get my wife pregnant?
Hi Jack,
A lower seminal quantity is referred to as hypospermia, it occurs when the ejaculate collected for sampling is less than 1.5 milliliters.
It is not necessarily the case that older men have a lower seminal volume but it is the case that it decreases with age.
I recommend that you see a doctor so that he can evaluate your particular case and diagnose whether or not you have hypospermia and if so, find a solution.
I leave you an article about hypospermia so you can read about it: What is Hypospermia?
I hope I have helped you
Best regards
Hello, my husband is 50 years old, I am a little younger, I am 30 years old. Does this mean that he doesn’t have good seminal quality to get me pregnant?
Hello Michelle,
Age is an important factor to consider in seminal quality but it is not determinative. Nor is it the only factor that can condition seminal quality.
I recommend that you go to a reproductive clinic to perform a spermiogram to evaluate semen quality and therefore the ability to achieve a natural pregnancy.
I hope I have helped you.
Best regards.