有小孩子會使男性的心臟更健康

It may come as a surprise to father's continually woken by their offspring in the early hours of the morning, but having children could mean they have healthier hearts.
　　對於一個父親來說，早上很早就被自己的孩子叫起來是很美好的一件事，但是，有小孩其實意味着他們的心臟更健康。

A decade-long study of 135,000 men found that those who remained child-free had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who 'sowed their oats.'

一項長達10年在十萬三千五百名男士中的調查顯示那些沒有孩子的比那些有孩子的更容易得心臟病死亡。

'There is emerging evidence to suggest that infertility may be a window into a man's later health,' said study leader Dr Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University in California.

“目前有證據證明不孕可能會導致男性心臟病”，加利福尼亞斯坦福大學的這項研究的主要研究者邁克爾·艾森伯格說。

He said men who are infertile have a higher risk of certain cancers, and his team wanted to look for other signs that infertility might be playing a role later in a man's life.

他說不孕的男士的很多癌症的機率會大大上升，並且他的團隊正努力試圖找到不孕在男性一生中的作用。

The researchers, reporting in the journal Human Reproduction, followed more than 130,000 men who were retired and over 50 for a decade.

在人類生殖期刊上，研究者公佈了一份爲期十年的在十萬三千的超過50歲的退休男性中的一項調查。

They restricted the list to men who were either married or had been married because they wanted to compare males who had the intent and the opportunity to have children.

他們嚴格限制已婚和未婚的男性的數量，因爲他們想要對比那些有意圖和機會要小孩的男性。

Men with previous underlying diseases, such as stroke, heart disease or some related condition were excluded. Hence, the men in their list started off in relatively good health.

那些有潛在疾病比如中風，心臟病或者其他疾病的被排除在研究之外。換句話說，能被研究的男士身體都十分健康。

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.

通過10年的跟蹤調查，百分之十的男性去世了，其中差不多五分之一都是因爲心臟病。

When looking at the parental status of these men, childless participants in the study had about a 17 per cent higher risk of heart disease than those who were fathers.

當看這些男性的家庭狀況是，無子女的被調查者得心臟病的概率相對於那些是父親的男士來說，要高出百分之17左右。

Dr Eisenberg 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.

艾森伯格博士說，但是，很難知道這些男士是自己不想要小孩是是因爲他們的另一半患有不孕症。

But excluding unmarried men offered an approximation of male infertility, and the link to heart disease raises important questions that merit further research.

但是這其中還不包括獨身的人，所以關於心臟病的研究在以後的研究中實際還是非常重要的問題。

'My belief it there is a biologic reason,' he said.

“我相信這是有生物原因的”，他說。

The researchers stress that the study does not suggest being childless causes heart problems, but since infertility affects a man's health at a much younger age, understanding this link could help doctors identify heart problems earlier, when there is more time to intervene.

研究者們強調這並不意味着說沒有小孩就有可能得心臟病，只能說不孕在年輕的時候會影響男士的健康，理解了這種聯繫之後，也許會幫助醫生更早的發現心臟問題，以便更好的治療。