Paris - The father's age, like the age of the mother, plays a major factor in the risk of miscarriage, according to a study which suggests that the danger increases by nearly a third among men aged over 35.
The research draws on background details from 5 000 Californian women who enrolled in a study in the 1990s that assessed pregnancy outcome.
"Among men who are older than 35, the risk of a miscarriage increases by around 30 percent, regardless of the woman's age. Overall the risk doubles from the age of 20 to 50," said lead researcher Remy Slama of France's National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
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The cause lies in the higher probability of chromosomal damage in sperm as a man gets older, said Slama.
The flawed DNA causes the foetus to develop abnormally and be aborted.
Among the miscarriages recorded in the 1990s study, 20 percent could be attributed to the age of the father.
Previous research has already highlighted the mother's age as a risk factor for miscarriage. A woman aged 40 is three times likelier to miscarry than a woman aged 25.
Miscarriage applies to a foetus that is spontaneously aborted between second and fourth week of pregnancy.
The study is published in the May issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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