title: Delayed childbearing and maternal mortality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the maternal age trend in pregnant women in Flanders, Belgium, and examine the impact of maternal age on maternal mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of a population based regional perinatal database during one decade.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between 1991 and 2000 a significant increase in maternal age was found, in primiparous as well as in multiparous women. The maternal mortality ratio was 5.8, and strongly related to maternal age, with a relative risk of 7.0 (95% CI: 3.0-16.2) from the age of 35 on, and of 30.0 (95% CI: 11.4-80.6) in women aged 40 years or beyond.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data call for further research and action to facilitate career and reproduction, and for special care for older pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Department of OB/GYN, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. marleen.temmerman@rug.ac.be
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Temmerman
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verstraelen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bekaert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D008428:Maternal Mortality; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D018566:Pregnancy, High-Risk; D012189:Retrospective Studies