Human mutations and paternal age

Summary Attention is drawn to recent findings reported in the literature on paternal age effects in sporadic cases with Marfan's syndrome. It is further shown that in 4 of 6 series with bilateral retinoblastoma a moderate influence of father's age can be detected. The difficulties of interpreting this observation are discussed. Based on the well-known decline in paternal age since the turn of the last century, it is finally estimated that the relative incidence of mutations to achondroplasia has decreased by about one fifth in Norway and France.