The Association between Advanced Maternal Age and Stillbirth Risk
Abstract
Background: The number of women who delay childbirth to their late 30s and beyond has increased significantly over the past several decades.
Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between fetal stillbirth and advanced maternal age.
Materials and Methods: This prospective observational descriptive study analyzed a total of 1560 singleton gestations without reported congenital anomalies admitted to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Tishreen university Hospital, Lattakia, Syria, during the period between November 2019 and November 2020.
Hazard rates (risk) of stillbirth (fetal death 28 weeks or longer) were calculated for maternal age, parity, medical conditions, pregnancy complications, smoking and neonate gender.
Results: The overall rate of stillbirth was 20.5 per 1000 total births (32 stillbirth out of 1560 deliveries).
Maternal age was a significant independent risk factor for stillbirth (35 – 39 years HR 2.01), (≥ 40 years HR 2.73). Other significant risk factors were smoking (HR 2.46), nulliparity (HR 3.61), pre-existing hypertension (HR 2.87), and pre-existing diabetes (HR 4.6).
The relationship with maternal age for increased antepartum stillbirth risk was seen for both nulliparous and multiparous women but with slightly larger effect sizes in the nulliparous women.
Conclusion: Women aged 35 or older in a first pregnancy should be counseled regarding stillbirth risk to assist with informed decision making regarding delivery.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors retain the copyright and grant the right to publish in the magazine for the first time with the transfer of the commercial right to Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series
Under a CC BY- NC-SA 04 license that allows others to share the work with of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can use a copy of their articles in their scientific activity, and on their scientific websites, provided that the place of publication is indicted in Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series . The Readers have the right to send, print and subscribe to the initial version of the article, and the title of Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies - Health Sciences Series Publisher
journal uses a CC BY-NC-SA license which mean
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
