Paternal age, stillbirths and mutation

Previous suggestions that accumulation of mutations in the germ line of ageing fathers causes an increased stillbirth rate were based on analyses of data which were heterogeneous for social variables whose effects were confounded with possible paternal age effects. This study was confined to the analysis of stillbirth rates of groups of women selected to be homogeneous for education, previous pregnancy outcomes, age, race and marital status. It is concluded that stillbirth rates do not increase with father's age independently of maternal variables. Neither accumulation of mutations in the paternal germ line nor other biological change associated with father's age can be inferred to cause an increase in risk of stillbirth with increasing paternal age.