OBJECTIVETo study the influence of male age on the outcome of conventional IVF-ET.

METHODSBased on male age, 170 couples undergoing conventional IVF-ET were divided into three groups: <35 yr (n = 60), 35 -39 yr (n = 77) and > or = 40 yr (n = 33). We observed the rates of fertilization, cleavage, good quality embryo, implantation, clinical pregnancy and abortion in different groups.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences among the three groups in semen volume ([3.10 +/- 1.22] ml vs [2.84 +/- 1.05] ml vs [2.80 +/- 0.79] ml), sperm concentration ([54.23 +/- 26.07] x 10(6)/ml vs [60.27 +/- 24.80] x 10(6)/ml vs [60.21 +/- 27.42] x 10(6)/ml) and sperm viability ([53.93 +/- 13.25]% vs [56.10 +/- 16.58]% vs [51.82 +/- 15.45]%) (P>0.05). The men of the > or = 40 yr group showed a significantly lower percentage of grade a + b sperm ([40.97 +/- 11.91]%) than those of the <35 and 35 - 39 yr groups ([48.47 +/- 11.78]% and [46.84 +/- 13.51]%) (P<0.05), and morphologically normal sperm ([11.76 +/- 5.97]%) than those of the <35 yr group ([15.25 +/- 6.94]% (P<0.05). The rates of fertilization, cleavage, good quality embryo, implantation, clinical pregnancy were 81.52%, 82.61%, 52.33%, 18.06% and 33.33% in the > or = 40 yr group, with no significant differences from those of the <35 yr group (83.18%, 82.68%, 56.99%, 22.40% and 40.00%) and the 35 - 39 yr group (78.78%, 80.66%, 55.01%, 21.74% and 38.96%) (P>0.05), while the abortion rate was markedly increased in the > or = 40 yr group as compared with the <35 yr group (36.36% vs 8.33%, P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONIncreasing male age is related with decreasing percentages of progressively motile sperm and morphologically normal sperm, but not obviously with the rates of fertilization, good quality embryo, implantation, pregnancy and abortion.

Adult ; Age Factors ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paternal Age ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome

Determmation of the chomosomal constitution of human spermatozoa has been camed out though the human-hamster interspecific in vitro fertilization(IVF) system. In recent years, the introduction of fluorescence in-situ hybridization(FISH) technique has provided an alternative approach to evaluate the cbmmosomal constitution of human spermatozoa. The nuclei of mature spermatozoa are highly condensed with interpmtamine disulphide bridges, therefore the success of FISH on interphase human spermatozoa relies on partial decondensation of the sperm chromatin. In early studies, dithioothreitol(DTT) has been known as an efficient decondensation agent. Since then, several different decondensation methods using D1T have been establisdhed, and in terms of decondensation, we were tried to fix the optimal decondensation protocol using DlT. In our study, the optimal concentration and treatment time were 1-mM and 30 min, respectively. We examined chromosome complements of human sperm to investigate the effect of paternal age on the hequency of nondisjunction in human sperm. We investgated sperm karyotypes ftom two diffaent age groups)28+/-0.5, 46+/-6), A minimum of 1000 spermatozoa for one patient were analyzed. The mean frequencies of YY, XX, XY, 21-disamy spermatozoa ware 0.04%, 0.45%, 0.40%, 0.45% respectively in young age group and 1.06%, 0.62%, 1.06%, 0.76% in old ages. The mean frequency of disomy spermatozoa was higher in old age poup compare with those of young age group.
Chromatin ; Chromosome Aberrations* ; Complement System Proteins ; Constitution and Bylaws ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Interphase ; Karyotype ; Paternal Age ; Spermatozoa*

The acronym CHARGE (Coloboma, Heart defects, Atresia choanae, Retarded growth and development, Genital hypoplasia, and Ear abnormalities) was coined by Pagon et al. in 1981. The prevalence of CHARGE syndrome was estimated to be approximately 1/10,000 - 1/15,000. The cause of the CHARGE syndrome remains unknown but several observations support the role of genetic factors and a significantly higher paternal age at conception and several chromosomal abnormalities. The clinical spectrum of this multiple congenital anomaly and mental retardation is broad and variable, therefore the treatment of the CHARGE syndrome was not definitive and conservative. We hereby report, with reviewing other literature, a case of CHARGE syndrome diagnosed after delivery.
CHARGE Syndrome* ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Ear ; Fertilization ; Growth and Development ; Heart ; Intellectual Disability ; Nasopharynx ; Numismatics ; Paternal Age ; Prevalence

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between paternal age at childbirth and the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 71 children with ASD who were diagnosed in the Department of Child Healthcare in six hospitals in Guangzhou, Foshan, Beijing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, and Chongqing of China from August 2016 to March 2017 were enrolled as subjects, and 284 typically developing children matched for age, sex, and maternal age at childbirth with the ASD children served as controls. A self-design questionnaire was used to collect the data on social demography, maternal pregnancy, and delivery. The association between paternal age at childbirth and the development of ASD in offspring was evaluated by the logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: After control for demographic factors and pregnancy- and delivery-related factors, the logistic regression analysis showed that a relatively high paternal age at childbirth was significantly associated with the increased risk of ASD in offspring (OR=1.12, 95%CI: 1.02-1.23, P<0.05). After grouping based on the paternal age, the logistic regression analysis showed that paternal age at childbirth of ≥40 years was significantly associated with the risk of ASD in offspring (before adjustment: OR=7.08, 95%CI: 1.77-28.32, P<0.05; after adjustment: OR=8.50, 95%CI: 1.71-42.25, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS High paternal age at childbirth is significantly associated with the increased risk of ASD in offspring, and paternal age at childbirth ≥40 years may be the high-risk age group for ASD in offspring.
Adult ; Autism Spectrum Disorder ; Child ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Maternal Age ; Paternal Age ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether paternal age is associated with the risk of preterm birth. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2003 birth certificates registry of 214,413 singleton infants born to women aged 25~29 years in Korea (Korea National Statistical Office). Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated from multivariate logistic regression analyses to investigate the associations between paternal age and preterm delivery. RESULTS: The incidence of preterm birth showed a significant difference among the different paternal age groups (p<0.01). 'U-shaped' distribution of preterm birth risk was observed in terms of paternal age, with that of 30~34 years group being the lowest. Compared with 30~34 years group, the odds ratios for preterm birth were 1.14 for <24 years (p>0.05), 1.08 for age 25~29 years (p<0.01), 1.20 for age 35~39 years (p<0.01), and 1.50 for > or =40 years (p<0.01) groups. CONCLUSION: Paternal age is a risk factor for preterm birth and advanced paternal age increases the risk of preterm birth.
Birth Certificates* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Parturition* ; Paternal Age* ; Premature Birth* ; Risk Factors

This study was conducted to evaluate the blood lead levels in 141 pregnant women who were not occupationally exposed to lead and their umbilical cord, arid to identify some differences in blood lead levels by living area. ; The subjects-were all delivered at St. Benedict Hospital in Pusan and the blood lead levels were measured by graphite furance atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The summarized results were as follows. 1. The geometric mean lead levels in maternal and cord blood were 8.0+/-1.8microgram/dl, 5.0+/-0.6lmicrogram/dl respectively. 2. Lead levels in maternal (8.7+/-1.7microgram/dl) and cord blood(5.4+/-0.7microgram/dl) of industrial area(n=24) were higher than residential area(n= 124) which were 7.9+/-1.7microgram/dl and 5.0+/-0.6microgram/dl respectively (p<0.05). 3. Maternal blood lead concentration was significantly correlated to cord blood lead concentration (r=0.6090, p<0.001), but other variables (maternal age, paternal smoking, birth weight, etc) were not correlated.
Absorption ; Birth Weight ; Busan ; Female ; Fetal Blood* ; Graphite ; Humans ; Occupations ; Paternal Age ; Pregnant Women ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Umbilical Cord*

PURPOSE: Cryptorchidism is a common congenital anomaly seen in urology practice, and early diagnosis and treatment plays an important role in the prognosis of the disease. This survey was performed to discover how many parents and primary care physicians understand cryptorchidism from the aspect of the optimal time for surgical correction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 100 pediatricians and 200 parents of the patients who were operated on for treating cryptorchidism in Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) between the years 2000 and 2004 were enrolled in this survey. We sent out survey letters and conducted individual counseling secessions with using questionnaires that consisted of 11 items for the parents and 12 items for the pediatricians. RESULTS: Most of the parents (62.7%) and a portion of the pediatricians (21.1%) preferred to operate beyond 2 years of age for treating cryptorchidism. For the pediatricians, there was no significant interconnection between the physicians' gender, the post-residentship interval, experience of employment, the practice duration, the necessity of hormonal therapy and the additional studies on the univariated and multivariated analyses (p>0.05). However, with a longer post-residentship interval and practice duration, the pediatricians tended to prefer delayed orchiopexy (p<0.05). For the parents, there was a significant relationship between paternal age, the parents' academic background and income level and the optimal operation time on both the univariated and multivariaged analyses (p<0.05). The younger parents, the more educated parents and the higher income parents showed earlier recognition of cryptorchidism and they preferred earlier orchiopexy (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The education programs and public activities targeting on the parents and the primary care physicians should be emphasized for achieving a better therapeutic outcome of cryptorchidism.
Busan ; Counseling ; Cryptorchidism* ; Early Diagnosis ; Education ; Employment ; Humans ; Male ; Orchiopexy ; Parents ; Paternal Age ; Physicians, Primary Care ; Prognosis ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urology

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether advanced paternal age is related to an increased risk of schizophrenia in Chinese Han population.

METHODSA case-control design study was performed. Three hundred and fifty-one patients with schizophrenia and 199 unrelated healthy volunteers were recruited. By using Logistic regression, paternal age was divided into five categories, and maternal age into four categories. Setting the paternal age of 26-30 years as reference, the OR, P values and 95% CI of the other paternal age categories were analyzed, respectively. The participant's sex, age and parental age at birth were used as covariants for adjusting confounding effects.

RESULTSThe OR for schizophrenia in offspring whose paternal age at birth of 31-35 years, 36-40 years, and ≥ 41 years categories were 3.834, 8.805, and 11.619 respectively. The advanced maternal age had no significant effects on the risk for schizophrenia in offspring.

CONCLUSIONThe advanced paternal age was associated with elevated risk for schizophrenia in offspring among a Han Chinese population. Putative biological mechanisms may include accumulated de novo mutations and alterations in epigenetic regulations with aging in spermatogenesis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paternal Age ; Schizophrenia ; genetics ; Young Adult

Advanced paternal age has been overlooked, and its effect on fertility remains controversial. Previous studies have focused mainly on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles in men with oligozoospermia. However, few studies have reported on men with semen parameters within reference ranges. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective cohort study analyzing the reproductive outcomes of couples with non-male-factor infertility undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. In total, 381 cycles included were subgrouped according to paternal age (<35-year-old, 35-39-year-old, or ≥40-year-old), and maternal age was limited to under 35 years. Data on embryo quality and clinical outcomes were analyzed. The results showed that fertilization and high-quality embryo rates were not significantly different (all P > 0.05). The pregnancy rate was not significantly different in the 35-39-year-old group (42.0%; P > 0.05), but was significantly lower in the ≥40-year-old group (26.1%; P < 0.05) than that in the <35-year-old group (40.3%). Similarly, the implantation rate significantly decreased in the ≥40-year-old group (18.8%) compared with that in the <35-year-old group (31.1%) and 35-39-year-old group (30.0%) (both P < 0.05). The live birth rate (30.6%, 21.7%, and 19.6%) was not significantly different across the paternal age subgroups (<35-year-old, 35-39-year-old, and ≥40-year-old, respectively; all P > 0.05), but showed a declining trend. The miscarriage rate significantly increased in the 35-39-year-old group (44.8%) compared with that in the <35-year-old group (21.0%; P < 0.05). No abnormality in newborn birth weight was found. The results indicated that paternal age over 40 years is a key risk factor that influences the assisted reproductive technology success rate even with good semen parameters, although it has no impact on embryo development.
Pregnancy ; Infant, Newborn ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Adult ; Paternal Age ; Retrospective Studies ; Semen ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Oligospermia

PURPOSE: To compare the relationship between intertwin birth weight discordance and maternal age at birth. METHODS: There were 51,726 pairs of twins born from 2007 to 2014 according to the birth certificate data of Korea Statistics (3,701,806 births). The data were excluded due to extra marital births, home births, and teenage births. Birth weight discordance rate (%) was calculated according to the following formula: (larger birth weight - smaller birth weight)/(birth weight of the larger twin) ×100. The odds ratio of intertwin birth weight discordance rate (≥25%) in maternal age at birth was calculated by logistic regression adjusted by the year of birth, gestational age, maternal education, infantile gender and paternal age. RESULTS: The mean birth weight of the heavier twin and that of the lighter twin were 2.536 kg and 2.254 kg, respectively. The mean birth weight difference of intertwins was 0.282 kg. The mean birth weight discordance rate by maternal age was 10.5 percent for maternal ages between 20 and 29 years, 11.0 percent for between 30 and 34 years, and 11.4 percent for 35 years and older. The frequency of birth weight discordance level of ≥25 percent increased as the maternal age increased. The rate of birth weight discordance (≥25%) was 7.7 percent for maternal ages between 20 and 29 years, 8.3 percent for between 30 and 34 years, and 8.7 percent in for 35 years and older. Compared with women from 20 to 29 years of age, the odds ratio of ≥25 percent discordance was 1.094 (95% confidence interval: 1.005~1.190) for 30 to 34 years, and 1.164 (1.401~1.301) for 35 years and older. The odds ratio of ≥25 percent discordance for the different-sexed twins was higher than that of the same-sexed twins in overall maternal age groups of 20 to 29 years, 30 to 34 years, and 35 years and older. CONCLUSION: The risk of birth weight discordance level of ≥25 percent was associated with the older maternal age. More research is required to understand the risk factors of intertwin birth weight discordance for older women.
Birth Certificates ; Birth Weight* ; Education ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Maternal Age* ; Odds Ratio ; Parturition* ; Paternal Age ; Risk Factors ; Twins