The age of the godfather matters

2002/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

Because the age of the mother influences the health of the fetus, the pregnancies of adult women are carefully taken care of. Now, however, for the first time it has been seen that the age of the stepfather can also have to do with the genetic anomalies of the fetus.

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona have shown that the older the godfather, the more possibilities there are of anomalies in the chromosomes of the sperm. After analyzing 200,000 sperm from 18 donors between 24 and 74 years, it has been concluded that age increases the likelihood of abnormal chromosomes occurring.

For each decade of aging, it is estimated that the possibility of all chromosomes being duplicated increases by 17%. On the other hand, the likelihood of duplication of chromosome 21 (causing Down syndrome) increases by 11.5% during the decade and the likelihood that this alteration will occur on sex chromosomes by 8.5%.