The Relationship between Father's Age and the Consequences of Fertility: A Cross Sectional Study at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences

Studies show that the most important limiting factor for fertility and a healthy reproduction with an older couple is women’s age. But the question is that to what extent will the father's age affect pregnancy and infant health? The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between paternal ages with reproductive outcomes.
This retrospective cohort study was conducted in Zahedan in 2017. The study population included 3,000 children under one year of age who were selected from urban health centers of Zahedan. Data were collected using a standard checklist. SPSS software, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression were used for data analysis.
Most fathers were 20 to 40 years old. The majority of the studied families had one child and most children examined were the first child. The results showed an association between paternal age and the sex of the baby (P=0.017), birth weight (P 0.031P =), type of delivery (P= 0.001) and delivery time (P=0.013).
With increasing paternal age, there is the possibility of developing risk factors such as early delivery and cesarean section. Childbearing at a young age increases the likelihood of having a healthy baby. In order to reduce early and high risk pregnancies and household costs, and health systems, it is suggested that the childbearing of family take place when parents are younger.