RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To identify medical and psychosocial risks that could arise from allowing older men to father children through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). DESIGN: Literature review. METHOD: The databases Medline, Current Contents weekly, Current Contents archives, and PsycINFO were searched over the period 1970--June 2004 for articles with data on age limits for men entering IVF/ICSI programmes. The following inclusion criteria were used: availability in the Netherlands and written in English or Dutch. RESULTS: Although sperm quality decreases with age, men remain fertile up to an advanced age. The risks of having children with autosomal dominant disorders or chromosomal defects increase slightly, but the individual chance is extremely small. Studies on the psychological development of children with fathers aged > 50 years are lacking. Extrapolation from other studies indicates that growing up with an older father has no negative influence on child development. Although older fathers have a greater chance of dying sooner, the absence of the father does not contribute significantly to psychological problems in offspring later in life. CONCLUSION: There are no medical or psychosocial arguments to support an age limit for men entering an IVF/ICSI programme.
