Another Case for the Could-Bes…

Attendees at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in New Orleans yesterday heard that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the greater the likelihood that her daughters will experience infertility.

That’s according to a study reported in The Irish Independent in which IVF patients were asked how old their mothers were when they were born and how old the patients’ believed their mothers were when they went through menopause…I suppose he assumed that a personal conversation about “the change” is a topic adult mothers and daughters explore.

Peter Nagy, of Reproductive Biology Associates in Atlanta, who led the study, said this data allowed him to calculate the “biological age” of the mothers’ ovaries.

• “I believe the correct conclusion is that maternal age and reproductive age is an important determining factor not only for the patient herself, but also determines to a certain extent the chances for her daughters,” Nagy said.

However, if every study released that contains the words “could be” were ultimately proven, there would only be about half as much material ever published in journals or delivered at medical conferences.