It's incredibly inspiring to have an example like yours. Thank you so much for trying to connect with researchers to help them understand the disease, even though it "has no value for you or your son." Your attempt has a lot of value as a model to follow. I'll try to do the same thing if we end up in a similar position. Good luck!
I've never heard of this correlation and have friends that became parents at 50 so I am curious.
I know that the older you get, the riskier it is to have children, but had no idea it was a linear correlation.
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28650922:
> A woman’s peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women.
> Down syndrome (trisomy 21) is the most common chromosome problem that occurs with later childbearing. The risk of having a pregnancy affected by Down syndrome is
> 1 in 1,480 at age 20
> 1 in 940 at age 30
> 1 in 353 at age 35
> 1 in 85 at age 40
> 1 in 35 at age 45 [2]
My jaw dropped.
I probably shouldn't claim "birth defects" in the general sense, just Down syndrome specifically. But the wording of "most common chromosome problem" seems to imply that this is a pretty reasonable inference.
Had no idea I was risking my kiddo's health so much by waiting.
1 in 35 is a lot.
Thanks for that!
There is a lot of studies on Google Scholar and it goes back to the 1800's. Some studies in livestock or vegetation (crops mainly) can also illicit clues because despite being different some chemical reactions or some end results will be the same in humans and animals and plants. You just cant change some of the chemical reactions, melatonin be one that is seen in humans, animals and plants, it increases in darkness.
My son was born 3 months ago with Poland syndrome. This came as a shock but it has also drawn me to look into the scientific literature.
While the common belief was that PS has no underlying genetic cause, there are papers suggesting that the may be.
Studying - I ran across many anomalies on my own body (his father), so minor that there were never considered relevant until now (I'm 40 and lead a normal life).
It would seem that on the right side of my body I have at least:
If the above is correct, this may be an opportunity (by studying my genome and my son's genome) to establish a link or a common cause for Becker Nevus Syndrome and Poland Syndrome - both fairly rare anomalies.Can you suggest who may be interested in studying this?
This has no value for me or my son, however the scientific endeavour may be of value for the future.