Do You Have Old Sperm?
Laura Donnelly reports in the Telegraph on some new findings about geezer daddies' sperm:

A mass study found that deaths of children fathered by over-45s occurred at almost twice the rate of those fathered by men aged between 25 and 30.

Scientists believe that children of older fathers are more likely to suffer particular congenital defects as well as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy. The study was the first of its kind of such magnitude in the West, and researchers believe the findings are linked to the declining quality of sperm as men age.

A total of 100,000 children born between 1980 and 1996 were examined, of whom 830 have so far died before they reached 18, the majority when they were less than a year old.

The deaths of many of the children of the older fathers were related to congenital defects such as problems of the heart and spine, which increase the risk of infant mortality. But there were also higher rates of accidental death, which the researchers believe might be explained by the increased likelihood of suffering from autism, epilepsy or schizophrenia.

Most research into older parents has, until now, focused on the risks passed on by older mothers. But the new study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, was adjusted to take account of maternal age and socio-economic differences.

The research also found higher death rates among children of the youngest fathers, especially those below the age of 19. However, the study said these differences were explained by the risks of teenage motherhood and poorer diet and lifestyle.

Previous research using the same data found that older men were four times as likely to father a child with Down's syndrome, while other studies have found that the genetic quality of sperm deteriorates as men age.

Will findings like this stop old dudes from fathering children, by accident or on purpose?

For an answer to that, look to a similar model: parents who know they have a predisposition for a disease, yet try to have kids anyway, crossing their fingers that they won't give birth to encephalitic babies destined for a short life of torture. Or maybe they'll give birth to a disabled child who requires taxpayer funding from birth to death, or at least after the parents get too old or too poor to take care of him or her anymore.

I read about a woman this weekend who had FIVE autistic children. Now, maybe these kids all regressed into autism, but hey: after you have one, or maybe two with autism, don't you go ask the doc to tie up the old tubes?

But, nope...in the face of poor odds, many people try their luck anyway at producing children -- because they love kids and they want one. Well, they want one, anyway.