Background: Previous studies highlight that maternal lifestyle and health during pregnancy impact offspring health. For example, advanced maternal age has been associated with greater fracture risk and lower bone mineral density in offspring. Emerging evidence suggests an impact of paternal factors on offspring later-life health; however, few human studies have been conducted. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate associations between paternal age (at childbirth) and offspring bone health.
Methods: Data from the Vitamin D in Pregnancy study, a mother-child pair cohort study, were used to examine associations between paternal age and offspring bone health. In total, 174 of 402 offspring fathers had provided their date of birth and 89 children had dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements at age 11 years. Linear regression models were developed to examine associations. Final models included the outcome of interest, paternal age, and offspring sex, height, weight and Tanner stage at age 11 years.
Results: Median fathers’ age was 32.2 years (IQR 29.4-36.7). In final models, advanced paternal age was associated with lower offspring spine bone mineral content (BMC) (coefficient -0.21g, 95% CI -0.37g to -0.056g, p=0.008), whole body bone mineral density (BMD) (-0.00237g/cm2, -0.00411g/cm2 to -0.000633g/cm2, p=0.008), whole body BMC (-6.67g, -11.12g to -2.01g, p=0.005) and spine BMD (-0.00313g/cm2, -0.00665g/cm2 to 0.000378g/cm2, p=0.080).
Conclusions: In this cohort, advanced paternal age was associated with poorer bone outcomes in offspring. Health professionals and prospective parents should consider the father’s age, as poorer offspring bone health may be a consequence of advancing paternal age.