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Morning News

Dr. Ford: Men Lose Some Fertility with Age

Aired August 1, 2000 - 11:19 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we go to Britain, and ladies, apparently, we are not the only ones with biological clocks, doctors have found, scientists have found that men also apparently have a biological clock as well.

To tell us more about that we are joined on the phone by Dr. Chris Ford. He is one of the authors of a new study that is just out to tell us more about the men's biological clock.

Doctor, thanks for joining us.

DR. CHRIS FORD, SR. RESEARCH FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL: OK, that's fine.

KAGAN: How does it work, men lose their fertility as time goes on just like us women?

FORD: Men gradually seem to get less fertile as they grow older. We've discovered that men aged 35 or older are almost twice as likely to take longer than 12 months to get their partners pregnant, compared to men under 25, So, yes, there seems to be a real decline in male fertility with age, but it is a gradual and continuous one, rather than something analogous to female menopause.

KAGAN: I was going to say, with men, you will hear about a famous actor like Anthony Quinn having a kid when he's 89 or something, I mean, he wasn't that old, but obviously it is not going to happen without some effort for a woman?

FORD: No. Absolutely not. But men do retain some fertility until very advanced ages, but less than when they are younger. It's probably just a matter of having to try for longer to get their partners pregnant.

KAGAN: So it doesn't mean that you can't, it just means that it is not as easy?

FORD: Yes, that's exactly right, yes.

KAGAN: So is there some kind of warning in this to men to maybe not wait forever?

FORD: I think so, yes. If they wait longer it is going to take them -- be harder for them to, you know, get the pregnancy they want. KAGAN: And anything else out of your research?

FORD: Well, yes, you might have heard this story, the sperm counts are declining in younger people. Well, I mean, our study gives some indication that this isn't affecting fertility, if indeed it is a real effect.

KAGAN: It's not? So it might not even be true is what you are saying?

FORD: It might not even be true. There are a lot of people who think it is not true, and our study would support that view.

KAGAN: All right, Dr. Chris Ford, thank you for joining us. Men out there taking note about the biological clock.

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