Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:18:20.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childbearing after age 35: its effect on early perinatal outcomes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Judith A. Fortney ,
J. E. Higgins ,
A. Diaz-Infante ,
F. Hefnawi ,
L. G. Lampe  and
I. Batar
Judith A. Fortney
Affiliation:
International Fertility Research Program, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
J. E. Higgins
Affiliation:
International Fertility Research Program, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
A. Diaz-Infante
Affiliation:
Department of Biology of Reproduction, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico
F. Hefnawi
Affiliation:
International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research, Cairo, Egypt
L. G. Lampe
Affiliation:
Noi Klinika, Debrecen
I. Batar
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical University, Debrecen, Hungary
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Births to women aged 35 years and older are compared with births to women aged 20–34 in three hospitals, one each in Mexico, Egypt and Hungary. In the two developing countries, babies born to the older women had lower rates of survival until hospital discharge, and were more likely to have depressed 5-minute Apgar scores. They were not, however, more likely to be of low birth weight. The differences were statistically significant, and remained when several other variables were controlled. The variables controlled were known to be age-related and to influence pregnancy outcome.

Hungary, the only developed country in the analysis, was quite different. Age had a significant influence on the weight of the infant, but not on survival or Apgar score. It seems therefore that when older women are in general good health and there are no concurrent social risk factors, advanced maternal age does not necessarily increase the risk of an adverse pregnancy outcome.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 1982 , pp. 69 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baird, D. (1963) The contribution of operative obstetrics to prevention of perinatal death. J. Obstet. Gynaec. Br. Commonw. 70, 204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, E. & Lifshitz, Y. (1979) Delivery at 40 years of age and over. Israel J. med. Sci. 15, 418.Google ScholarPubMed
Daniels, P. & Weingarten, K. (1979) A new look at the medical risks in late childbearing. Women and Health, 4, 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grizzle, J.E., Starmer, F.C. & Koch, G.G. (1969) Analysis of categorical data by linear models. Biometrics, 25, 489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Israel, S.L. & Deutschberger, J. (1964) Relation of the mother's age to obstetric performance. Obstet. Gynec., N.Y. 24, 411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kajanoja, P. & Widholm, O. (1978) Pregnancy and delivery in women aged 40 and over. Obstet. Gynec., N.Y. 51, 47.Google ScholarPubMed
Mantel, N. & Haenszel, W. (1959) Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J. natn. Cancer Inst. 22, 719.Google ScholarPubMed
Morrison, I. (1975) The elderly primigravida. Am. J. Obstet. Gynec. 121, 465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Namboodiri, N.K. & Balakrishnan, V. (1958–1959) On the effect of maternal age and parity on the birth weight of the offspring (Indian infants). Ann. hum. Genet. 23, 189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nortman, D. (1974) Parental Age as a Factor in Pregnancy Outcome and Child Development. Reports on Population/Family Planning, No. 16. The Population Council, New York.Google Scholar
Resseguie, L.J. (1977) The artifactual nature of effects of maternal age on risk of stillbirth. J. biosoc. Sci. 9, 191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed