The risk of adult women developing non-hodgkin’s lymphoma more than doubled if they were born to a father over 40, Health Day reported.
A study by the City of Hope research and treatment center in Duarte, Calif., looked at the link between parents’ age at their child’s birth and the risk of non-hodgkin’s lymphoma by examining 110,999 California women. The study found that their risk increased 59 percent.
The results of the study, authored by Yani Lu, research fellow at the City of Hope, add to previous studies indicating that a father’s age has a significant effect on their children’s risk for breast and prostate cancers.
"As a man, you may think, 'I can have a baby at 50 or 60 and live long enough to see him go through college.' But there may be other risks for your child down the line, and you may want to be conscious of those risks," Lu said in a news release from City of Hope.
Lu drew on data from another City of Hope study tracking the lifestyle choices and demographic information of 133,500 female teachers in California beginning in 1995.
The study is available online and will be in the June 15 print issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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