Fathers could be annoyed for being woken by their offspring in the early hours of the morning, but having children could mean they have healthier hearts。
A decade-long study found that those who remained child-free had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who "sowed their oats."
US researchers said it raised the possibility that infertility may be a potential early warning sign of future heart trouble and certain cancers。
The researchers followed more than 130,000 married men who were retired and over 50 for a decade。
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。
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。
When looking at the parental status of these men, childless participants in the study had about a 17 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who were fathers。
The study leader Dr Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University in California 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。
But excluding unmarried men offered an approximation of male infertility, and the link to heart disease raises important questions that merit further research。
The finding has be published in the journal Human Reproduction。