Men should be allowed to donate sperm up until the age of 45, new research suggests. Sperm donors up to the age of 45 are just as likely to conceive children as those in their 20s.
A study by Newcastle Fertility at the Centre for Life said the age limit can be increased as they were able to find sperms that were sufficiently healthy. Dr. Meenakshi Choudhary said it is not about the age, but about sperm quality.
Dr Choudhary said the average age of sperm donors at her unit had risen from 26 years to 34 years since the lifting of anonymity.
However, Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust, said 'Given the need for more sperm donors in the UK, perhaps it is time for the guidelines on sperm donation to be reviewed in light of this study, to consider extending the upper age limit.'
The findings dispel the myth that a woman's chances of IVF success are lowered if she has to rely on sperm from an older man.
"Our results suggest that, up to the age of 45, there is little effect of male age on treatment outcome, but sperm donors are a selected population based on good sperm quality", stated Dr. Choudhary.
Dr Ghuman, from Newcastle Fertility Centre, who took part in the study of more than 230,000 sperm donation treatments, said: "What's reassuring is that there's no decline observed with increasing age of the men.
"The idea that older sperm means less chance of conceiving wasn't seen.
"We wanted to answer the question, does the age of a sperm donor matter?
"The short answer is no, it doesn't.
"The take-home message is that live birth rate does not decline with the age of male donors up to the age of 45."
Older men wanting to donate sperm probably already have a family, said Dr Choudhary, a consultant in reproductive medicine and gynaecology.
