title: A Genetically Informed Study of the Associations Between Maternal Age at Childbearing and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes.
abstract: We examined associations of maternal age at childbearing (MAC) with gestational age and fetal growth (i.e., birth weight adjusting for gestational age), using two genetically informed designs (cousin and sibling comparisons) and data from two cohorts, a population-based Swedish sample and a nationally representative United States sample. We also conducted sensitivity analyses to test limitations of the designs. The findings were consistent across samples and suggested that, associations observed in the population between younger MAC and shorter gestational age were confounded by shared familial factors; however, associations of advanced MAC with shorter gestational age remained robust after accounting for shared familial factors. In contrast to the gestational age findings, neither early nor advanced MAC was associated with lower fetal growth after accounting for shared familial factors. Given certain assumptions, these findings provide support for a causal association between advanced MAC and shorter gestational age. The results also suggest that there are not causal associations between early MAC and shorter gestational age, between early MAC and lower fetal growth, and between advanced MAC and lower fetal growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA. asujan@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Ayesha C
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4374-9949
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Sujan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Martin E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rickert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Quetzal A
authors.initials: QA
authors.lastname: Class
authors.affiliation: Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Claire A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Coyne
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Almqvist
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Arvid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sjölander
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lahey
authors.affiliation: Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Hulle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Irwin
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Waldman
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: A Sara
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Öberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: D'Onofrio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000235:genetics*; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Birth weight; Fetal growth; Genetically informed designs; Gestational age; Maternal age at childbearing; Quasi-experiments