Mick Jagger a dad at 72? Why not?

Editor’s Note: Ford Vox is a physician specializing in rehabilitation medicine and a journalist. He is a medical analyst for NPR station WABE-FM 90.1 in Atlanta. He writes frequently for CNN Opinion. Follow him on Twitter @FordVox. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

So Mick Jagger is about to become a father again. The singer has announced that child number eight – conceived with his 29-year-old girlfriend Melanie Hamrick – is on the way.

Congratulations to Papa Stone – who has been a great-grandfather since 2014. He’s now 72 years young and even though he is still able to rock the free world (and give free concerts in the not-so-free world, as he did in Havana show last March), there are good reasons the rest of the world’s 70-plus men should think twice about fathering children at that age.

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Mick Jagger celebrates his 70th birthday

02:18 - Source: CNN

We usually think about older parenting as an issue for women: It’s easy to understand why they would not want to have children as they get older. A high-profile report last year calculated the risk of death during child delivery in the United States at 1 per 1,800. The risk is highest for older mothers, and that’s partly why the female body at some point says, “No more” (also known as menopause).

HOLLYWOOD, CA - DECEMBER 14: Actresses Carrie Fisher (L) and Billie Lourd attend the premiere of Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" on December 14th, 2015 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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What’s more, children of older mothers are subject to higher risks for genetic diseases. In the case of Down syndrome, that risk approaches an astounding 3% as women reach age 45. Ob/gyns will offer genetic screening to women planning a pregnancy at 35 or older, or who have other risk factors. And the ease of blood tests has many women well below 35 also getting genetic workups before or during their pregnancies.

While Hamrick is only 29, her doctor probably offered some of this testing, if not for any risk factor of her own, because her partner, Mick, is 72.

So what are the issues for older fathers? The so-called paternal age effect is linked to numerous genetic disorders (including Down syndrome), as well as the complicated mixture of nature and nurture that lead to a variety of other psychiatric and neurological problems. Studies demonstrate that children of older fathers are more likely to have autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder with psychotic features, and learning difficulties.

Long before his days as a stadium-packing musician, Mick Jagger is seen at his home in Dartford, England, in 1946. He was 3 years old. Images like this, along with hundreds of other Rolling Stones artifacts, will be on display as part of "Exhibitionism," a gallery that opens at London's Saatchi Gallery in April 2016.

Jagger smiles for a school photo in 1951. He later attended Dartford Grammar School, where he found his passion in music.

Keith Richards, 4, rides a bike on a family holiday at Southend-on-Sea, England, in 1947. The guitarist met Jagger while the two were in primary school, a friendship that budded into the world-renowned rock band.

Ronnie Wood, 9 months old, is held by his mother, Elizabeth, in 1947. Wood joined the Stones in 1975, and he is known for playing the slide guitar and the lap-steel guitar.

Wood, age 4, at his London home in 1951. By the time he joined the Stones, he had established himself as a musician, having already played with The Birds and the Faces.

Charles Robert Watts, 2, feeds birds with his mother, Lillian, and his father, Charles, in London's Piccadilly Circus in 1943. Charlie was known as Charlie Boy because his father was called Charlie. Watts was asked to play drums when the Rolling Stones were forming. He denied the invitation until 1963.

An 8-year-old Jagger, left, plays at the beach with his younger brother Chris in 1951. Chris is also a musician and has worked as a clothing designer and journalist.

The Rolling Stones as kids

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To take autism as an example, an Israeli study concluded that men over 40 were five times more likely to have children with autism versus men under 30.

Scientists are still theorizing about the precise genetic mechanisms at work here, but in general it’s well understood that our cells have more trouble dividing without error as they age, and that includes the sperm produced in a man’s testes. The cells in the testes that ultimately produce sperm, called spermatogonia, divide 23 times per year, with each division producing a new chance for error. That possibility for error is the same phenomenon that leads to many cancers.

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Beyond genetic risk factors, choosing to reproduce in your later years means you’re more likely to start suffering health setbacks as your child is reaching major milestones in his or her early life. Even if you’re as healthy as Mick Jagger, who’s planning a big show in Vegas this fall, this is an unavoidable consideration. There’s no question that the illness and death of a parent imprints in unpredictable ways on children and teenagers.

The Rolling Stones became the first major international rock band to play in Cuba. More than 100,000 people attended the concert at the Ciudad Deportiva in Havana.

Cubans celebrated at the concert, the first for the band.

"Years ago it was difficult to hear our music but here we are," Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger told the crowd in Spanish. "The times are changing."

After the Cuban revolution, rock music was banned.

The concert was the result of months of diplomacy after the United States and Cuba announced that they would repair decades of broken relations.

Perhaps aware that many of the Cubans attending had not heard much of the band's music, the Stones played many of their most familiar classics, like "Paint it Black," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Brown Sugar."

Given the low wages of most Cubans, the show was free.

Cuban police and soldiers walked around the concert but it was marked by a mostly joyous atmosphere.

Rolling Stones in Cuba

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We’re all living longer and healthier, but the wealthy especially so. With access to more active and interesting lifestyles – bringing a wide range of mentally stimulating activities, as well as great diets, personal trainers, and easy access to the full range of the world’s best health care – the rich are living especially well these days. If the general trend is to start raising our children later in life, it’s not unexpected that people at the top end of the income scale may take this trend to the extreme.

But there are still natural limits for everyone, even in 2016.

Still, beyond facing the inevitability of a parent’s frailty and death at some point, Mick Jagger’s child will not want for anything. Unlike other older parents, Jagger needn’t worry about providing for his children after he’s gone. That’s a rare situation.

Any child of the intrepid Rolling Stone is destined to have a unique life. But for the rest of us, it’s best to think twice about forgoing birth control after becoming a grandfather.