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Related Concept Videos

Menopause01:28

Menopause

Menopause, a natural biological process marking the end of a woman's fertility, typically occurs between the fifth and sixth decade of life. This phase is characterized by the exhaustion of the ovarian follicle pool, leading to less responsive ovaries despite the high levels of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH). The consequential decrease in estrogen production results in symptoms like hot flashes, heavy sweating, headaches, hair loss, muscle pains, vaginal...
Infertility in Females01:28

Infertility in Females

Female infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after a year of regular, unprotected intercourse and affects about 10–15% of couples worldwide. The primary cause of female infertility is ovulatory disorders, which hinder the release of eggs. These disorders can be classified as hypothalamic amenorrhea, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), premature ovarian failure, and hyperprolactinemic anovulation disorders.
Endometriosis, a condition characterized by abnormal growth of endometrial...
Infertility in Males01:23

Infertility in Males

Male infertility affects millions of couples worldwide, arising from various factors that impact different stages of the reproductive process. An endocrine imbalance resulting from conditions like hypogonadism, Klinefelter syndrome, or pituitary disorders can disrupt hormone levels and reduce sperm production. Testicular defects, such as tumors, cryptorchidism, atrophic testes, abnormal sperm morphology, and low sperm count or motility, may arise due to genetic factors, structural...
Oogenesis02:07

Oogenesis

In human women, oogenesis produces one mature egg cell or ovum for every precursor cell that enters meiosis. This process differs in two unique ways from the equivalent procedure of spermatogenesis in males. First, meiotic divisions during oogenesis are asymmetric, meaning that a large oocyte (containing most of the cytoplasm) and minor polar body are produced as a result of meiosis I, and again following meiosis II. Since only oocytes will go on to form embryos if fertilized, this unequal...
Spermatogenesis01:41

Spermatogenesis

Spermatogenesis is the process by which haploid sperm cells are produced in the male testes. It starts with stem cells located close to the outer rim of seminiferous tubules. These spermatogonial stem cells divide asymmetrically to give rise to additional stem cells (meaning that these structures “self-renew”), as well as sperm progenitors, called spermatocytes. Importantly, this method of asymmetric mitotic division maintains a population of spermatogonial stem cells in the male reproductive...
Longitudinal Research02:20

Longitudinal Research

Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Orthotopic Ovarian Transplantation Procedures to Investigate the Life- and Health-span Influence of Ovarian Senescence in Female Mice
06:49

Orthotopic Ovarian Transplantation Procedures to Investigate the Life- and Health-span Influence of Ovarian Senescence in Female Mice

Published on: February 12, 2018

Female fertility and longevity.

Joshua Mitteldorf1

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,University of Arizona,Tucson, AZ 85920, USA. josh@mathforum.org

Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
|September 5, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Bearing children does not appear to shorten a woman's life expectancy. A re-analysis of the Caerphilly cohort study suggests previous findings were due to statistical anomalies, not a true biological effect.

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Demography
  • Reproductive Biology

Background:

  • Aging theories, such as the Disposable Soma theory, predict that reproduction negatively impacts lifespan.
  • Numerous demographic studies have not supported this prediction.
  • The Caerphilly cohort study previously reported a negative association between fertility and lifespan.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the Caerphilly cohort study findings regarding fertility and female life expectancy.
  • To investigate the statistical methodology used in the original Caerphilly study analysis.
  • To determine if the observed effect of childbirth on lifespan is robust.

Main Methods:

  • Re-analysis of the Caerphilly cohort data.
  • Application of Poisson regression and assessment of data distribution.

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Z-Scores for Assessing Ovarian Reserve in Young Patients Undergoing Fertility Preservation
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Z-Scores for Assessing Ovarian Reserve in Young Patients Undergoing Fertility Preservation

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Last Updated: Jun 20, 2026

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  • Use of bilinear regression to model lifespan in relation to fertility and birth date.

    • Main Results:

    • The original study's reliance on Poisson regression was compromised by non-Poisson distributed data at high fertility levels.
    • Excluding a small number of women with very high parity (≥15 children) eliminated the significant negative association.
    • Bilinear regression indicated a small positive coefficient for fertility, aligning with broader demographic trends.

    Conclusions:

    • The Caerphilly cohort study's conclusion that childbearing shortens lifespan is likely an artifact of statistical methods and data outliers.
    • There is no robust evidence from this re-analysis to support the hypothesis that bearing children reduces female life expectancy.
    • The findings align with the majority of demographic research showing no detrimental effect of fertility on longevity.