Parental age and child outcomes.

This review summarizes the impact of parental age on children's health outcomes beyond the perinatal period. In the last decades, delayed parenthood with both men and women has become a public health issue. For women, in particular, the size of this delay is substantial. For a few medical conditions, older parental age has a pronounced effect on child morbidity. For most other outcomes, a more modest effect is evident. Although these effects might be limited on an individual level, they have a substantial impact at the level of population health.