The age of your mum could affect your fertility, according to a study

From the editors of LOOK

A study has suggested that the age of your mother could impact your chances of having children.

The research – carried out by scientists at McGill University in Quebec, Canada – analysed the data of over 43,000 women, and found that a high number of those with no children had been born to older mothers.

Why could this be? Well Peter Nagy – from Reproductive Biology Associates in Atlanta – told The Guardian: ‘A mother’s reproductive age is important not only for herself, but it will determine to a certain extent the chances of her daughter or daughters being infertile.

'When we are treating patients close to the age of 40, we are helping them get babies but, at the same time, these children will have a higher risk of becoming infertility patients.’

However, the scientists who conducted the research say they can’t prove whether the women they assessed had actually struggled to conceive, or if they’d simply chosen not to start a family.

‘We had no knowledge of whether childlessness was intentional,’ the notes read, adding that all they’d proven was that ‘the association with childlessness was highly consistent’.

Interestingly, the age of the women’s fathers had no significant effect.

Of course, there are a huge amount of reasons why a woman or a man may have fertility issues. And we firmly believe that nobody should feel pressure to start a family until they’re completely ready to take that step.

But it is an intriguing thought. Now that the average age of first-time mothers is higher than ever, at 28.6 in the UK, we’re sure it’s something we’ll hear more about in coming years.