Advanced parental age has been associated with adverse offspring health outcomes, but the biological mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. Research suggests that epigenetics may play a role, especially since advanced parental age has been associated with lower levels of offspring DNA methylation, which in turn, have been associated with adverse offspring outcomes. Nevertheless, the association between advanced parental age and epigenetics has only been explored in two studies with relatively small sample sizes. Larger epigenome-wide association studies are required to identify more CpG sites and improve our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms underlying the observed associations between advanced parental age and adverse offspring health outcomes.

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