The influence of maternal age on perinatal conditions

Abstract

This work has as Objective a to analyze the influence of maternal age on perinatal conditions and verify the frequency of maternal and fetal complications in extreme ages of the woman’s reprodutive life. Official registers belonging to 39.285 births in Fortaleza in 2002 were verified. This considered population was divided according to the maternal age in Groups I, II and III (10 to 20, 21 to 40 and over 40 years old, respectively). The study correlated the maternal age to the variables: number of prenatal appointments, gestational age, type of delivery, Apgar score in the first minute and birth weight. We observed that Group II had a more efficient prenatal care comparing to Groups I and III. We verified premature births in 5,9% of teen pregnants and women over 40 years old, more than the frequency we found in Group II (5%). Teen mothers had a higher incidency of normal delivery and older women, caesarean sections. The number of babies with moderate and extreme asfixy in Groups I and III (19,1 and 21,6%, respectively) was higher than in Group II (18%). We detected a higher incidency of lower birth weight in Groups I (8,1%) and III(10,8%), if we compare to Group II (6,8%).The results suggest that pregnancy in extremes of reproductive life is associated with less efficient prenatal care, prematurity, anoxy and lower birth weight. In regard to the type of delivery, however, precocious pregnancy presents a higher incidence of normal deliveries and late pregnancy, caesarean sections.