According to a study by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), adolescents who become parents at this age are more likely to have children with health problems than those who become parents in adulthood. The explanation, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry , is based on mutations in the sperm of the young.
Previous research had already determined that adolescent parents are at higher risk of having children with autism, low IQ, schizophrenia, or even spina bifida; however, the percentage of risk is low in absolute terms .
For their study, the scientists, led by geneticist Peter Forster, analyzed the DNA of more than 24,000 parents and their offspring from Germany, Austria, the Middle East and Africa. Of the volunteers, the youngest mother was 10.7 years old and the oldest 52.1 years old. In the male part, the youngest father was 12.1 years old and the oldest 70.1 years old.
Data analysis revealed that adolescent fathers ‘sperm cells had approximately six times more mutations than adolescent mothers’ eggs ; they also had 30% more mutations than the sperm cells of the oldest parents (from 20 years of age).
It is still not clear why these mutations occur in adolescent sperm and it is known that there are about 1.5 births with health conditions in the general population, so that among adolescent parents it will represent that 2% of your children who will be born with problems . However, “these results are not cause for panic”, reassures Forster.
