Most men don’t realise age is a factor in their fertility too.

By Karin Hammarberg, Monash University and Sara Holton, Monash University.

Most people want to have children sometime in their life and expect this will happen when the time is right for them. In Australia, the “right” time to have a first child has shifted from being in the mid-twenties a few decades ago to around 30 today. In 1991, less than a quarter (23 per cent) of women having their first child were over the age of 30. In 2012 this had risen to more than half (55 per cent).

Age has a significant impact on fertility and the chance of having a healthy baby. In women, fertility starts to decline slowly in their early thirties and this decline speeds up after 35. The monthly chance of pregnancy for couples in which the woman is 35 or younger is about 20 per cent, and 80-90 per cent achieve a pregnancy within 12 months. By age 40, the monthly chance has dropped to five per cent and only 50 per cent of couples conceive within 12 months.

Image: iStock

While most people might think age only affects female fertility, there is growing evidence that sperm quality decreases as men age, starting at around 45. Women with male partners aged 45 or older are almost five times more likely to take more than a year to conceive compared to those with partners aged in their twenties.

There is also research that shows that older fatherhood increases the risk of miscarriage and birth defects and of their children developing schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.

Age-related fertility decline is a cause of involuntary childlessness or having fewer children than planned. To overcome age-related infertility, people often turn to assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF for help.

The facts on fertility. (Post continues after post)

But unfortunately, as with spontaneous conception, the chance of having a baby with assisted reproductive technologies decreases with increasing parental age. In 2014, more than a quarter of women (26 per cent) and over a third (35 per cent) of male partners who accessed assisted reproductive technologies were aged 40 or older.

In that year, the chance of a live birth per started treatment cycle was 25.6 per cent for women under 30, but only 5.9 per cent for women aged 40-44.

Image: iStock 

Increasing age of parenthood isn’t just due to women delaying childbearing.

In part, as a result of increasing age at first birth, Australia’s fertility rate, which is the average number of babies born to a woman throughout her reproductive life, is at an all-time low.

Existing research – and public discourse – relating to childbearing focus almost exclusively on women. Declining fertility rates are often portrayed as being the result of women delaying childbearing to pursue other life goals such as a career and travel.

But studies we have conducted indicate it’s the lack of a partner or having a partner who is unwilling to commit to parenthood that are the main reasons for later childbearing and involuntary childlessness.

We also know, contrary to the common stereotype that parenthood is more important for women than for men, that men desire parenthood as much as women do. So how do men influence the age of childbearing and fertility rates? (Post continues after gallery.)

To better understand men’s role in childbearing decisions and outcomes we conducted a survey of 1,104 randomly selected Australian men aged between 18 and 50 years.

What men know about fertility.

We found that most men (90 per cent) wanted at least two children. Almost all (97 per cent) said they had enough knowledge about reproduction for their needs but when they were asked at what age fertility starts to decline most underestimated the effect of age on male (55 per cent) and female (68 per cent) fertility.

Responses to a question about the chance of having a baby with IVF for women in their late thirties or early forties showed that more than half of the men (60 per cent) believed assisted reproductive technologies can overcome age-related infertility. We also asked up to what age the men thought it was acceptable for a man to have children and most (62 per cent) thought it was acceptable for men aged over 50 to father a child.

Childbearing and parenting are shared endeavours, and this study suggests that men’s lack of knowledge about fertility and attitudes towards acceptable ages for parenthood might put them at risk of missing out on ever having kids, or having fewer children than they wanted to have.

Image: iStock  

Attempts to increase men’s knowledge about the limitations of fertility may increase the likelihood that men (and women) achieve their parenthood goals.

The bottom line is, for men who have a partner and want to have children, the “right” time to become a dad is sooner rather than later.

Karin Hammarberg, Senior Research Fellow, Jean Hailes Research Unit, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University and Sara Holton, Research Fellow, Monash University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Image: iStock