Does Advanced Maternal Age Increase the Risk of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes?

Objective: To compare the perinatal outcomes of advanced maternal aged women(≥ 35 years) to the controlgroup (20-35 years) in a tertiary hospital.Material and methods: This study was conducted on 2152 women who gavebirth between 1st January and 31st December 2011. The ‘study group’ was comprised537 pregnant women aged ≥35 years and the ‘control group‘ was comprised1615 pregnant women aged between 20-35 years. The maternal and fetaloutcomes of two groups were compared statistically.Results: The incidence of preterm delivery was significantly higher in the advancedmaternal aged women group (14.5% vs 6.6%, p 0.001). Low birth weight,very low birth weight babies and intrauterin growth restriction were also significantlyhigher in this group (7.1% vs 4.6%, p= 0.01, 5.2% vs 0.9%, p 0.001, and8.2% vs. 4.8% p=0.003, respectively). Although cesarean section rate was significantlyhigher in the study group (34.8% vs. 26.6%, p 0.001), emergency cesareansection rate was significantly higher in the control group (29.4% vs 40%, p=0.01).Pregnancy induced hypertension and gestational diabetes mellitus were significantlyhigher in the older women compared to control group (p 0.001, OR: 2.2,95% Cl:1.5-3.5 and p=0.01 OR: 1.89, 95% Cl:1.2-2, respectively).Conclusion: Pregnancies with advanced maternal age have higher risk of maternaland fetal complications. The most crucial risks for older pregnancies arepregnancy induced hypertension and gestational diabetes mellitus. The cesareansection rates are also higher in older pregnant women.