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  • Title: Delayed childbearing.
    Author: Francis HH.
    Journal: IPPF Med Bull; 1985 Jun; 19(3):3-4. PubMed ID: 12280153.
    Abstract:
    In many Western nations, including England and Wales, Sweden, and the US, there is a current trend towards delayed childbearing because of women's pursuit of a career, later marriage, a longer interval between marriage and the 1st birth, and the increasing number of divorcees having children in a 2nd marriage. Wives of men in social classes I and II in England and Wales are, on average, having their 1st child at 27.9 years, 1.6 years later than in 1973, and in social classes IV and V, 1.0 years later than in 1973, at a mean age of 23.7 years. Consequently, the total period fertility rate for British women aged 30-34 years, 35-39 years, and 40 and over increased by 4%, 2%, and 4%, respectively, between 1982-83, in contrast to reductions of 2% and 3%, respectively, in the 15-19 year and 20-24 year age groups, with the 25-29-year-olds remaining static. The average maternal mortality for all parties in England and Wales during 1976-78 was 106/million for adolescents, 70.4/million for 20-24 year-olds, and 1162/million for those aged 40 years and older. The specific obstetric and allied conditions which increase with age are the hypertensive diseases of pregnancy, hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, abortion, cardiac disease, caesarean section, ruptured uterus, and amniotic fluid embolism. The Swedish Medical Birth Registry of all live births and perinatal deaths since 1973 has shown that the risk of late fetal death is significantly greater in women aged 30-39 years than in those of the same parity and gravidity aged 20-24 years. The risk of giving birth to low birth weight babies preterm and at term and of premature labor are similarly increased. The early neonatal death rate also was increased for primigravidas and nulliparas in the 30-39 year age group but not in parous women. This is, in part, due to the rise in incidence of fetal abnormalities with advancing maternal age because of chromosomal and nonchromosomal anomalies. These also appear to be the cause of the increased fetal loss from spontaneous abortion. The incidence of dizygotic twins rises steeply over the age of 30 years at a time when the mother is less able to tolerate the increased physiological load. Some women who have postponed childbearing find themselves involuntarily infertile owing to a physiological or pathological decline in fecundity. The physiological decrement because of malfunction of aging ovarian follicles becomes apparent at 35 years and proceeds rapidly after 40 years. From the obstetric perspective, pregnancy is ideal in women aged 20-30 years, tolerable between 30-34 years, undesirable between 35-39 years, an to be avoided after 40 years.
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