Fathers could be annoyed for being woken by their offspring in the early hours of the morning, but having children could mean they have healthier hearts.
A decade-long study found that those who remained child-free had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who "sowed their oats."
US researchers said it raised the possibility that infertility may be a potential early warning sign of future heart trouble and certain cancers.
The researchers followed more than 130,000 married men who were retired and over 50 for a decade.
Men with previousunderlying diseases, such as stroke, heart disease or some related condition were excluded. Hence, the men in their list started off in relatively good health.
Over the course of the 10-year follow up period, some 10 percent of the men died, and one out of every five of these deaths was from heart disease.
When looking at the parental status of these men, childless participants in the study had about a 17 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who were fathers.
The study leader Dr Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University in California said it was not possible to determine whether men in the study simply chose not to have children or whether the men's partners were infertile.
But excluding unmarried men offered an approximation of male infertility, and the link to heart disease raises important questions that merit further research.
The finding has be published in the journal Human Reproduction.


据英国《每日邮报》9月27日报道，父亲们可能会因早早地被孩子吵醒而恼怒不已，但养小孩可能意味着他们拥有更健康的心脏。

一项为期十年的研究发现，那些无子女的人死于心脏病的几率大于那些已经"开枝散叶"的人。

美国研究人员表示，这项研究增加了不孕症可能是将来患心脏病和个别癌症的早期潜在预警信号的可能性。

研究人员跟踪调查了13万已婚退休的男性，他们都上了50岁。
他们排除了那些先前患有如中风、心脏病或相关病症等潜在疾病的人，所以在（研究）起始阶段，那些被列为研究对象的人的健康状况都相对良好。

在十年跟踪调查期间，大约有10%的男性死亡，而他们中的五分之一是死于心脏病。

当调查这些已亡男性是否曾为人父时，研究人员发现，无子女的研究对象罹患心脏病的风险比那些当父亲的要高17%。

来自加利福尼亚斯坦福大学的研究领导人迈克尔·埃森伯格表示，他们难以确定是研究对象自己选择不要孩子还是他们的伴侣患有不孕症。


但是，因为研究排除了未婚男性，这表明研究对象可能患有不孕症。而要回答男性不孕和心脏病（是否有）关联的疑问还需要更多的研究。

该发现发表在《人类生殖》杂志上。

• possibility [,pɔsə´biliti] n.可能(性)；希望；前途 (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
• california [,kæli´fɔ:njə] n.加利福尼亚 (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• related [ri´leitid] a.叙述的；有联系的 (高中英语单词)
• relatively [´relətivli] ad.比较地；相对地 (高中英语单词)
• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
• status [´steitəs] n.身份；情形；状况 (英语四级单词)
• unmarried [,ʌn´mærid] a.未婚的，独身的 (英语四级单词)
• reproduction [,ri:prə´dʌkʃən] n.繁殖；翻版；再现 (英语四级单词)
• retired [ri´taiəd] a.退休的；通职的 (英语六级单词)
• underlying [,ʌndə´laiiŋ] a.基础的；下层的 (英语六级单词)