(CNN) Today's American dad is slightly older -- roughly 3½ years -- than his counterpart from four decades ago, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction. The average age of a father of a newborn in the United States increased from 27.4 years old to 30.9 years old between 1972 and 2015, found Stanford University School of Medicine researchers led by Dr. Michael Eisenberg. Men who want to become fathers might want to think about the implications of their choices, Eisenberg suggests. "There is data that a man's fertility declines with age," Eisenberg, an assistant professor of urology, wrote in an email. "As such, it may make sense to not wait too long as it may be more difficult to conceive. In addition, there are some potential risks to children."The average age of a new US father was 30.9 years in 2015, study findsAsian-American dads, who are 36 years old on average, are the oldest fathers of new babies
"Most data on rising parental ages in the _ has been restricted to mothers," Eisenberg wrote, which makes sense because birth certificate data are generally collected from mothers.