Delaying motherhood until 40s ‘five times riskier’

WOMEN giving birth in their 40s are up to five times as likely to suffer severe complications which leave them in intensive care, a major study shows.

Research on 800,000 women found those having children later in life had a far greater risk of potentially lifethreatening consequences, including stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

Women who consider delaying having children until their forties should be alerted to the findings, the authors said. In the UK, conception rates among women of that age have tripled since 1990.

The research, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, examined rates of potentially life-threatening complications of giving birth such as kidney failure, obstetric shock, and amniotic fluid embolism.

Some complications were found to be eight times as common among women over 39, compared with those aged 25 to 29. Women aged 45 to 49 were almost five times as likely as younger women to end up in intensive care, the research by the University of British Columbia, Canada, found.

And if they required interventions, such as forceps, or a caesarean delivery, they were five times as likely to suffer complications as a result.

The risk of stillbirth was more than three times as high among women in their late forties, compared with those in their twenties. For those aged between 40 and 44, the risk was 70 per cent higher than it was among the twentysomething women. And risks of neonatal deaths were around twice as high for women in their forties.

Women between 40 and 44 were eight times as likely as younger mothers to suffer an amniotic fluid embolism, while those in their late forties were 15 times as likely to suffer from renal failure, the findings showed. Many such complications are rare. Among women in their late twenties, eight in 10,000 end up in intensive care, rising to 16 in 10,000 among those in their early forties, and 80 in 10,000 among those in their late forties.

But the study found that overall, compared with younger mothers, the risk of any severe problems was 0.9 per cent higher for mothers aged 40 to 44 years, 1.6 per cent higher for mothers aged 45 to 49 years and 6.4 per cent for mothers over 50. The authors wrote: “These results should improve counselling to women who contemplate delaying childbirth until their forties... as maternal age continues to increase, the rate of severe maternal morbidity is likely to increase in the future.”

In the UK, the fertility rate for women over 40 has risen from 5.3 to 15.2 per 1,000 women between 1990 and 2015. Jacque Gerrard, director for England at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “We would encourage women who are planning to have a baby later in life... to be aware of the research so that they can make an informed decision.”