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Paternal age effect

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Phone:617-632-7753


The paternal age effect describes the influence that a father’s age has on the chances of conferring a genetic defect to his offspring. Generally, older men have a greater probability of fathering children with a genetic defect than younger men do. This is seen as likely due to genetic copying errors which may increase in number after repeated spermatogenesis cycles over a man’s lifetime.

Disorders correlated with paternal age

Achondroplasia (dwarfism); craniofacial disorders such as Apert syndrome and Crouzon Syndrome; mental retardation of unknown etiologies; autism; and 25% of schizophrenia cases are correlated with advanced paternal age.

Other disorders related to advanced paternal age are:

See also

References

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