The Director of the National Reconstructive, Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah says old people stand the chance of giving birth to abnormal children.
According to him, research has proven that the risk of having a child with chromosomal abnormalities increases as the parents get older.
Dr. Ampomah revealed this during an exclusive interview with Max Morning Show in Accra on Thursday.
”This is because older eggs are more prone to errors during cell division, leading to conditions like Down syndrome, Patau syndrome, and Edwards syndrome,” he said.
Dr. Ampomah explained that older men also have an increased risk of their sperm carrying genetic defects, potentially leading to birth defects like cleft lip or a hole in the diaphragm.
”While sperm quality doesn’t decline as drastically as eggs in women, older men can still have sperm with genetic defects, increasing the risk of birth defects in their children,” he added.
Dr. Ampomah therefore emphasized the need for both men and women to give birth in their youthful ages.
