Human reproduction: Daughters born to older mothers likely never to have children, study suggests

According to researchers at McGill University in Canada, who assessed data of more than 43,000 women, a mother’s age when they give birth to their daughter will likely affect whether their daughter could have children of their own.

The new findings published in the journal Human Reproduction come after initial evidence suggesting a link was published in 2006. The study, presented at an American Society of Reproductive Medicine conference, suggested that late births cause genetic damage that is passed on. At the time, the medical community dubbed the results ‘fascinating’ – but the topic has yet to be fully understood by scientists.

However, despite proving there is a legitimate link in the recent study, the researchers have been unable to conclude why the link exists.

Some evidence suggests that women who delay having children can damage the fertility of their daughters – the older study had suggested late births cause genetic damage that is passed on to daughters.

Are older mothers passing genetic damage to their daughters’ chances of successful reproduction?

The study did not find proof of genetic damage admitting, “we had no knowledge of whether childlessness was intentional,” it did prove that “the association with childlessness was highly consistent.”

The study concluded that nearly 20 percent of women born to mothers older than 30 went on to never have children.

This is in comparison to the 13 percent who were born to teenage mothers, and the 15 percent of those born to mothers between the ages of 20 and 24.

Interestingly, the study “found weak evidence for an independent contribution of paternal age at birth to the daughter’s probability of childlessness,” meaning there was no evidence suggesting older fathers were also to blame for childless daughters.

And according to the researchers, women who have a postgraduate degree were the most likely never to have any children – however, it is unclear whether this claim is related to the age of their mothers.