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Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Age on Fertility of Offspring

出版	Ohio State University, 2017
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=dYWptAEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Infertility, defined as the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse (Zegers-Hochschild et al, 2009), affects 9-18% of the population (Aghajanova, 2016). Numerous factors have been linked to infertility (Hanson et al, 2016) with increasing maternal age believed to have the strongest association (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee, 2014). Ten to thirty percent of infertility remains unexplained (Quass & Hansen, 2016). More women are having children later in life due to educational and career pursuits despite confirmed increase in infertility (Martin et al, 2015) (Sauer, 2015). Women are born with all the egg cells they will ever have and as women age, their egg cells age along with them. An increase in egg cell nondisjunction, changes to the oocyte nuclear genome, changes to its mitochondrial genome, telomere length alterations, and epigenetic modifications in oocytes all are thought to influence age related infertility. While it is clear that the age of a woman (G1) is associated with her own fertility, what is not known is whether the age of the woman (G1) at the birth of her daughter (G2) is correlated with the fertility of the daughter (G2). During fetal development of G2 which happens in the milieu of the G1 environment, all of the egg cells that will become G3 are formed. Epigenetic modifications to the G3 egg cell which may compromise its integrity are a potential mechanism for disruption to the future fertility of G2. Associations between age of G1 and outcomes in both G2 and G3 have been found. To test the impact of G1 age on fertility of G2, we conducted an online survey of over 3000 women. Survey questions assessed participant fertility, ages of participants and their parents, family reproductive history, and long-term health outcome of offspring. Analyses showed that women (G2) born to teenage mothers (G1) were 40% more likely to experience infertility than women (G2) whose mothers (G1) were 20-29 (95% CI 1.08-1.81; p-value= 0.01). This effect persisted after controlling for participant (G2) age. No significant difference in fertility was found in participants (G2) with older mothers (G1); however, only a small number of participants (G2) had mothers (G1) over age 40, which may not have sufficiently powered the analyses for that group. The results of our study did not support the hypothesis that advanced age of mother (G1) at the birth of her daughter (G2) is associated with infertility in the daughter (G2). Additional studies should be done to confirm the association of G1 age of less than 20 with increased infertility as this may have reproductive implications.