title: Parental age difference and adverse perinatal outcomes in the United States.
abstract: This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between paternal and maternal age differences and adverse perinatal outcomes in the United States. Data were obtained on singleton pregnancies delivering at >or=20 weeks gestation in the United States in 1995-97 from the National Center for Health Statistics data sets. Adverse perinatal outcomes that were evaluated included fetal death rate (>or=20 weeks), preterm delivery <37 weeks and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) births (birthweight <10th centile for gestational age and corrected for sex). Age difference was defined as paternal minus maternal age. The analysis included 8995274 pregnancies (11.3% blacks, 88.7% whites). An increase in fetal death rate, preterm delivery and SGA births was noted among white women who were older than their male partners. For black mothers older than their partners, there was an increase in fetal death rate when the women were <20 years old, but a decrease in fetal death rate when >35 years old. Neither rates of preterm delivery nor SGA births were increased much for black women with varying parental age differences. This demonstrates that race and maternal age both contribute to the effects of parental age difference on adverse perinatal outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0591, USA. kinzlewe@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Kinzler
authors.forename: Cande V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Ananth
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Smulian
authors.forename: Anthony M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vintzileos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D010331:Paternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data