title: Adverse perinatal outcome in the older primipara.
abstract: Delayed childbearing has become common and has raised the awareness of the possible risks for the mother and the newborn infant. The increased maternal and neonatal risks have been attributed largely to the lack of proper prenatal care. The aim of this study was to assess whether advanced maternal age is a significant risk factor in mothers who receive good prenatal care. We matched 161 cases 1:1 according to the following criteria: maternal and paternal ethnic origin, chronic diseases, marital status, and smoking during pregnancy. Our results show that the older women had babies with a significantly higher incidence of low birth weight (< 2500 gm, p = 0.001), prematurity (< 37 weeks, p = 0.02), intrauterine growth retardation (p = 0.001), abruptio placentae (p = 0.002), and cesarean section (p < 0.001). The average hospital stay for the babies of the older mothers was longer than that for babies of the younger mothers (8.4 vs 6.1 days, p = 0.003), and the incidence of hospitalization for more than 3 days in the neonatal intensive care unit was increased (10.3% vs 2.2%). Logistic regression did not support maternal age of 35 years and older as being the single significant risk factor for adverse neonatal and maternal outcome. We conclude that maternal age older than 35 years entails a higher risk for the mother and her newborn infant, even when good prenatal care is taken.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Bikur Cholim Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dollberg
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Armon
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008423:Maternal Age; D010298:Parity; D018743:Perinatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D018570:Risk Assessment