Increased Maternal Age and the Risk of Fetal Death

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 333; no. 15; pp. 953 - 957
• Main Authors: Fretts, Ruth C, Schmittdiel, Julie, McLean, Frances H, Usher, Robert H, Goldman, Marlene B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 12.10.1995
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Biological and medical sciences; Birth order; Confidence intervals; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Female; Fetal Death - epidemiology; Fetuses; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Health risk assessment; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; Infant Mortality - trends; Infant, Newborn; Logistic Models; Maternal Age; Medical sciences; Odds Ratio; Parity; Population; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - epidemiology; Pregnancy, High-Risk; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Quebec; Risk Factors; Teaching hospitals; Canada; North America; America; Quebec; Human; Fetal diseases; Pregnancy disorders; Mother; Risk factor; Primiparity; Fetus; Death; Age; Public health
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199510123331501

As women pursue educational and career goals, they are more likely to delay childbearing. In the United States from 1976 to 1986, the rate of first births among women 40 years of age or older has doubled, 1 but the effect of advanced maternal age or of birth order (parity) on fetal outcomes is not clear. Some studies have found no increase in the risk of fetal death or perinatal infant mortality for older as compared with younger pregnant women, but these studies lacked statistical power and focused on women in relatively high socioeconomic groups. 2 – 7 In contrast, several larger studies . . .