Researchers have noted an important association with preterm births and the mother's age. The number of preterm births has been on the constant increase and this research that we're about to talk about today deals with just that and explains why. The study has stated that the maternal age at pregnancy has been increasing worldwide and so that leads to the risk of a preterm birth.
The research team, led by Florent Fuchs from the CHU Sainte-Justine in Canada, analysed the data from 32 hospitals in Quebec, Canada, from the year 2008 to 2011 and the findings have been published in the journal Plos. The team studied over 165,282 pregnant women, who were further divided into five different age groups and compared them based on the maternal characteristics, gestational and obstetric complications and risk factors related to preterm birth. Some of the known risk factors identified were found more commonly in older mothers, aged 40 and above, including placenta previa, gestational diabetes, medical history, use of assisted reproduction technologies and occurrence of an invasive procedure.
Other than that, a condition called nulliparity, whereby women never complete more than 20 weeks of pregnancy, was associated with factors such as drug use and smoking in the past, were more prevalent in younger mothers, especially 30 years and below. Previous studies conducted on preterm birth stated that preterm birth may increase heart risk and affect brain maturity of the babies.
