Maternal age as a risk factor for pregnancy outcomes: Maternal, fetal and neonatal complication

It has been widely documented that maternal age in pregnancy is increasing in the world. Nowadays, many women delay their pregnancy even up to the 40th year of their life because of different reasons, such as occupational, educational and economical. Therefore, complete awareness of pregnancy outcomes in these ages for the midwives and gynecologists is needed to protect the health of the mother and infant. This research, which is a descriptive comparative study, is performed to compare the pregnancy outcomes of women aged over 35 years. The inputs contained 1021 pregnant women, and their pregnancy outcomes were compared in 4 groups of primiparous and multiparous women over and below the age of 35. To analyze the inputs using SPSS software, the chi(2) test, Fisher, and Odss-ratio were used. In primiparous women, there is a statistically significant relation between the age of over 35 and preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm labor, malpresentation, cesarean and low birth weight, while in multiparous women, there is a significant relation between the age of over 35 and preeclampsia and low birth weight. In the women of over 35 years old, parity is effective on the measure of preeclampsia and cesarean delivery, only. However, the mother's high age can be an independent factor for pregnancy outcomes, in that the primiparous women are exposed to more effectivity of age. It is a fact that the aged women can have a natural pregnancy with a term infant; as such, over-age must not be a contraindication for pregnancy.