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Late pregnancy increases the risk of serious complications
The average age of mothers continues to rise. A new study has now shown that late pregnancy is not only associated with a risk to the offspring, but also to the mother. In this country, a woman from the age of 35 years is classified as a risk-pregnant.
Late pregnancy is not only a risk to the baby
Especially in richer countries, pregnancy at age 40 is no longer an exception. That this is associated with health risks, has already been shown in scientific studies. For example, researchers from the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institute reported last year on their study, which found that expectant mothers over the age of 40 have a high risk of stroke. A new analysis of the data of hundreds of thousands of pregnant women also confirmed that a late pregnancy is not only a danger to the baby, but also to the mother.
It is no longer a rarity for women over 40 to give birth to children. A late pregnancy, however, is associated with health risks - not only for the baby, but also for the expectant mother. (Image: alice_photo / fotolia.com) More life-threatening complications
As the team around Sarka Lisonkova from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (Canada) in the journal "PLOS Medicine" reported, there are more life-threatening complications with age.
According to the study author, previous studies have shown that older pregnant women are at higher risk for diseases such as hypertension or diabetes. The current analysis now points to a higher risk of death.
In order to reach their conclusions, the scientists analyzed the health data of 800,000 pregnant women from the US state of Washington from the years 2003 to 2013.
Factors such as obesity or artificial insemination were excluded as influences. As a normal value, the complication rate was set in women aged 25 to 29 years.
Renal failure and amniotic fluid embolism
According to the researchers' analysis, the risk of severe cardiovascular shock at birth from the age of 40 increased significantly.
The risk of kidney failure or amniotic fluid embolism also increased. In the latter, amniotic fluid enters the maternal circulation via the uterus during delivery. It often ends fatally.
According to reports, on average 16 out of every 1,000 births resulted in serious, life-threatening complications, some of which ended in death. From the age of 39, the rate increases significantly.
According to the researchers, it was almost one percent higher among 40- to 44-year-old mothers than among 25- to 29-year-olds. Her risk of shock was threefold, that of an amniotic fluid embolus eightfold.
For women over the age of 50, the overall risk of dangerous complications was more than six percent higher.
Strategies to reduce maternal mortality
"The results are important for advising women who are thinking about moving their desire to have children beyond the 40," said Lisonkova, according to a Business Insider report..
In addition, they provide "useful information for the health care system," according to the study authors. "This information is also useful for preventive strategies to reduce maternal mortality," - not only in developing countries.
The experts pointed out that one of "the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of 2000 was to reduce maternal mortality by 15 percent in 15 years." But this has "not been achieved by many industrialized countries".
The ideal age to get pregnant
In Germany, according to the dpa news agency, a woman is classified as a high-risk woman from the age of 35. Statistically, she has an increased risk of miscarriage and milder complications such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure or thrombosis.
According to the agency, in 2015 in Germany almost 13,700 babies were born by 40-year-olds. The average age at first birth thus increased in the period from 28.8 to 29.6 years.
Dr. Nanette Santoro, a researcher at the University of Colorado who was not involved in the current study, said, "Based on this and other studies, the ideal age for getting pregnant is between 25 and 29 years." (Ad)