A recent study from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, claims to have determined the “safest age” for mothers to have children. Published in the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, the study reported that the chance of birth defects occurring is at its lowest when the mother is between 23 and 32 years old.
Mothers under 20 years old are at risk of circulatory disorders and central nervous system defects, while mothers over 32 are more at risk for heart defects and cleft lip and palate in a larger proportion of babies.
“First, we tried to determine the ten-year age period during which the fewest such congenital abnormalities occurred,” Dr. Boglárka Pethő, assistant professor at Semmelweis University and the first author of the study said in a report. “We found that between 23 and 32 can be the ideal age for giving birth. Then we identified the age groups where the risk is higher compared to this safest period.”
Researchers analyzed 31,128 pregnancies that had been complicated by non-chromosomal developmental disorders from 1980 through 2009. That information was then compared to Hungary’s Central Statistical Office data on 2,808,345 births within the same time period.
“Non-genetic birth disorders can often develop from the mothers’ long-term exposure to environmental effects,” Prof. Nandor Acs, director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Semmelweis University, said in the report. “Since the childbearing age in the developed world has been pushed back to an extreme extent, it is more important than ever to react appropriately to this trend. Our research can play an important role in establishing modern and safe pregnancy care and screening protocols.”
The risk of developing non-chromosomal abnormalities increased by 20% for births given by mothers under the age of 22. The risk increased by a lesser 15% for mothers above the age 32. While the researchers claim to have found a correlation between the risk for childbirth abnormalities, more research is needed to understand why.
“Reducing the incidence of developmental disorders should be a priority for the society as a whole,” Prof. Nandor Acs said. “They place a huge emotional burden on families and an extraordinary weight on health and social care systems. In the United States, for example, 3% of hospital cases resulted from these anomalies in 2013, and 22.9 billion dollars were spent on their treatment alone.”
About the Author
