It may come as a surprise to father’s continually woken by their offspring in the early hours of the morning, but having children could mean they have healthier hearts. A decade-long study of 135,000 men found that those who remained child-free had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who ‘sowed their oats.’
U.S researchers said it raised the possibility that infertility may be a potential early warning sign of future heart trouble.
‘There is emerging evidence to suggest that infertility may be a window into a man’s later health,’ said study leader Dr Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University in California. He said men who are infertile have a higher risk of certain cancers, and his team wanted to look for other signs that infertility might be playing a role later in a man’s life.
The researchers, reporting in the journal Human Reproduction, followed more than 130,000 men who were retired and over 50 for a decade. They restricted the list to men who were either married or had been married because they wanted to compare males who had the intent and the opportunity to have children.
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January 26, 2012