Children of old women healthier?

Offspring of young mothers suffers significantly more from health problems

07/09/2012

The younger the mother, the sicker the offspring, as the surprising result of a study by researchers from the Rostock Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR). As the researchers led by Mikko Myrskylä found out in a study of the medical data of 18,000 US citizens, the children of older mothers are by no means more ill later in life than the children of younger women.

Instead of the age of the mothers in the birth of their children, the educational attainment and the life span, which mothers and child still spend together, are of far greater importance for the health of the offspring, so the result of the Rostock researchers. Her study disproves the previous assumption that a higher age of the mothers has negative consequences for the children's health. Although the rise „Likelihood of miscarriages and diseases such as Down syndrome in advanced maternal age“, but „for the adulthood of the children, early births seem to be more of a concern than later“, report the scientists of the MPIDR. In summary, children who are born before the mother turns 25 may later be sicker, die earlier, grow smaller, and become more likely to be overweight.

Health of children of old mothers not worse off
So far, the assumption applied, „that the adult offspring of late mothers is ill more often because the body of the woman at the time of birth had already broken down - for example, because of age, the eggs have become worse or the placenta weaker“, explains the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. Democrats Mikko Myrskylä has now got to the bottom of these assumptions based on data from more than 18,000 Americans. Like most comparable studies, Mikko Myrskylä's analysis was based on birth-rate figures from the beginning of the 20th century. These figures actually suggest that the health of children of older women is worse off. But this statistical connection is based on one „sparkle effect“, which is not due to the age of the mothers, but their level of education and the still experienced together with the child life span goes back.

Education and life span are crucial for children's health
At the beginning of the 20th century, according to the Rostock scientist, especially less educated women had children at an older age. In addition, the life expectancy of the people at that time had been significantly shorter and old mothers would therefore spent a much shorter life span together with their child. However, educational attainment of mothers and the age at which the child loses the mother are of crucial importance to the children's health. If the figures were adjusted for these two effects, the health of the children of older mothers was by no means worse than that of young mothers, explains the Rostock demographer. Without cleanup, the offspring of 35- to 44-year-old mothers appeared to have more than ten percent more illnesses than those aged 25-34, Mikko Myrskylä reports.

Early loss of mother makes children sick
In the adjusted data, the disease effect shrank to below five percent and lost its statistical significance. „The damaging effect of the rising age for mothers up to the age of 45 dissolves, so to speak, in the air“, This is the message of the Rostock Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. „Our data suggest that what at first glance looks like the negative impact of an advanced maternal age is a sheer effect that actually sets the level of education the mother has and the age at which the child loses the mother“, explained Myrskylä. The sooner a child lost the mother, the sicker it became later, which the Rostock researchers on the „mental shock from the early loss of the mother“ returns. Also, a negative health effect of the early loss of the mother could arise from the fact that the children were given shorter economic and social support.

Children of young mothers with significantly greater health problems
For the children of younger mothers, however, the Rostock demographer drew a worrying picture. According to his calculations, the children of younger women have much more health problems later in life. „The children of 20 to 24-year-old mothers suffered from five percent more illnesses than those aged 25 to 34“, reports Mikko Myrskylä. Among the children of 14 to 19-year-old women, the researchers even recorded 15 percent more illnesses. These results are „significant, and do not change when you factor out the educational attainment of the mother or other confounders.“ Also, the recent triggers of the apparent effect in the statistics have been relativized over the last century. Today, more educated women tend to have children at an older age and due to the generally higher life expectancy, the children do not have to expect an early loss of the mother despite later birth. (Fp)

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Image: Grace Winter