Daughters born to fathers aged below 20 are at a 35 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer as adults.
Many studies have highlighted the ill-effects of older fathers on their child's health. A team of City of Hope researchers examined the effects of paternal age on cancer risk, especially adult-onset-hormone-related cancer, which includes breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer. They found that daughters born to fathers aged below 20 are at a 35 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer
"Our findings indicate that parental age, especially paternal age, at conception appears to be associated with a wide range of effects on the health and development of the offspring," study author Yani Lu said in a news release.
For the study, researchers examined 133,479 female teachers and administrators from the California Teachers Study. Between 1995 and 2010, 5,359 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, 515 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 1,110 women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer.
Researchers also found that daughter born to fathers aged between 30 and 34 years had a 25 percent greater risk of endometrial cancer than those born to fathers aged 25-29. This finding didn't come as a surprise to researchers as there has been increasing evidence suggesting that daughters born to older fathers have increased risk of breast cancer.
"We observed that young paternal age, as well as advanced paternal age, increase the risk of breast cancer," said Lu. "We also found that young paternal age increases the risk of ovarian cancer."
Findings of the study will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in San Diego.
