Study: Pregnant Women With Medical Conditions More At Risk Than Older Pregnant Women

A new study has revealed that pregnant women with medical conditions are at greater risk of adverse outcomes in pregnancy than pregnant women who are over 35.

The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology study has found that the trends in motherhood are changing as one in seven first-time mums gave birth between 35-39 years of age.

Women in this age group without health problems had the same risk level of maternal death compared to those in the same circumstances who were over 40 years old.

Lead author University of Sydney Professor Jonathan Morris explained that the study analysed 117,357 pregnancies among 99,375 women aged over 35 from NSW birth records from 2006 to 2012.

The participants were aged 35 to 56 years old, 32.2 per cent of whom were first time mothers and 67.8 per cent were women who previously had babies, and the outcomes of pregnancy for majority of women were good.

“What this work has done for the first time is looked at things other than age. When you examine the contribution of age compared with medical conditions or what’s happened in your pregnancies before – those characteristics are far more important than age.”

AMA ACT president Dr Stephen Robson said that the report refined understanding about risk, but found that age was a factor in the mix along with medical and obstetric history.

“It would be a critical mistake to take this as reassurance that if you are well you can delay childbirth as long as you want,” he said. “As you get older it becomes harder to become pregnant. And you are more likely to have an early pregnancy loss or miscarriage which is a devastating experience.”

Source: Essentialbaby.com.au