Women who decide to give birth to their first child in their forties are up to five times more likely to develop serious complications and are much more likely to end up in the ICU than younger mothers. Why is this happening?
A study of 800 women shows that women who decide to give birth to a baby late in life are more likely to face serious, potentially life-threatening consequences, including intrauterine fetal death or the death of a newborn.
According to the authors of the analysis, women who postpone motherhood until the age of 40 should familiarize themselves with alarming statistics. In Britain, the number of pregnant women at this age has tripled since 1990.
The authors of the study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, analyzed data on potentially life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth, such as kidney failure, obstetric shock, and amniotic fluid embolism.
It turned out that some complications are eight times more common in women over 39 years of age compared to those in labor between 25 and 29 years of age. Women aged 45-49 were nearly five times more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit than young mothers, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada found.
Moreover, women requiring intervention such as forceps delivery or cesarean delivery were five times more likely to experience postpartum complications.
The risk of stillbirth was three times higher among women under fifty compared to women giving birth before thirty. Among women aged 40-44, the risk was 70%. higher than among twenty-year-olds. Neonatal deaths occurred twice as often in mothers in their forties.
Compared to young mothers, amniotic fluid embolism was eight times more common among those aged 40-44. According to the analyzed statistics, women under fifty suffered 15 times more often from kidney failure. Most of these complications are rare.
Among women under thirty, eight out of ten thousand giving birth go to the ICU. After forty, twice as many women go to the intensive care unit, i.e. 16 out of ten thousand women in labor. Before fifty, as many as 80 out of ten thousand giving births require intensive care.
The analysis showed that compared to younger women, mothers aged 40-44 are 0,9 percent. more likely to suffer from serious complications. In the 44-49 age group, the risk increases to 1,6%, and among women over 6,4 it is as high as XNUMX%.
“The results of our analyzes should improve the level of counseling for women who are considering postponing motherhood until the age of 40,” the authors write. “The age of women giving birth is increasing, which means that the rate of serious perinatal complications is likely to increase in the future as well.”
In the period from 1990 to 2015 in Great Britain, the percentage of women who decide to become a mother in their forties increased from 5,3 to 15,2 per 1000 women.
“We need to communicate these statistics and risks to women who are thinking about having a baby later in life so that they can make an informed decision,” says Jacque Gerrard, director of the Royal College of Midwives, an association of midwives.
How to Treat Infertility?
Drug therapy of infertility
This type of therapy works most often with women. Most popular drugs, such as clomiphene, are supposed to stimulate ovulation.
Surgical procedures
Surgical procedures are used in the case of obstruction of the reproductive system in women and men.
Assisted fertilization
One method is artificial insemination, which involves injecting sperm into the cervix without having direct sexual intercourse. The method is used, for example, in the case of minor abnormalities in semen.
Another method of assisted fertilization is in vitro fertilization, which involves bringing the egg and sperm together in a laboratory setting, outside the woman’s reproductive system, and then placing the fertilized cell in the uterus. This type of therapy works, among others in the case of reduced sperm quality or ovarian dysfunction, but also when the reason for which the woman has not been able to get pregnant cannot be found.