Researchers from the Ottawa Health Research Institute found that babies born to teenage fathers also are more likely to be born premature and have low birth weight.

The findings, published in the journal Human Reproduction, were based on 2.6 million birth records, the University of Ottawa said in a release.

The analysis showed that babies born to teen fathers were 15 percent more likely to be born early, 13 percent more likely to have low birth weight and 17 percent more likely to be small for gestational age, compared to babies born to fathers aged 20 to 29. The infants were 41 percent more likely to die five weeks to one year after birth.

"Our study indicates that being a teenage father is an independent risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, while advanced paternal age is not," study author Shi Wu Wen said in a statement. "The mechanism of this effect is not clear, but both biological and socio-economic factors could be playing a role."

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