‘Janet Jackson’ effect leads to surge in number of older mothers
Doctors report that lockdown delays in IVF treatment saw rise in older women giving birth
MORE than five women aged 50 and above gave birth every week in the three years up to 2021, as doctors said IVF delays caused by lockdown were contributing to an increase in middleaged mothers.
At least nine women aged 60 and over, including two pensioners, have had babies in English hospitals since 2019 as mothers continue to delay becoming parents.
Figures from the Office for National Statitics (ONS) show 824 women over the age of 50 gave birth between 2019 and 2021, the equivalent of 275 per year. This is an almost 20 per cent increase compared to the 701 for the three years prior. The rise in older women giving birth comes after a string of middleaged celebrities had children in the past few years. Doctors described the trend as “the Janet Jackson effect” after the singer gave birth to her son Eissa Al Mana aged 50 in 2017.
Rachel Weisz, the actress, gave birth to her first child with husband Daniel Craig in 2018 when she was 48, while supermodel Naomi Campbell became a mother via surrogate aged 50 in 2021.
It comes as the average age of women giving birth hit a record high of 30.9 in 2021 as young people put parenthood on hold while pursuing careers and stability. Gynaecology waiting lists snowballed by 60 per cent to more than 570,000, more sharply than any other specialty, during the pandemic when the fertility industry was shut down for several weeks.
Delays in investigating fertility issues means many women have fallen several years behind on their journey being diagnosed and assisted, Dr Raj Mathur, chairman of the British Fertility Society has said. Dr Mathur said there had been “a gradual increase in the number of women approaching clinics for fertility treatment using donor eggs, close to or over the age of 50”. He added: “Because of the pandemic, a patient may have started seeking treatment when she was 47, but is now 50.”
More than 80 over-55s gave birth, a 25 per cent increase compared to the three years prior, ONS data commissioned by this paper shows.
Two women aged 61 gave birth under the care of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, one in 2020 and the second in 2022, while a woman over the age of 65 gave birth in Bristol in 2019, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
While some of the women in their 50s may have conceived naturally, the majority will have sought treatment abroad, called fertility tourism, before coming back to the UK to have the birth.
There is no cut-off in law regarding the age a woman can have fertility treatment, but doctors in the UK will generally not treat patients over the age of 51, the average age of the menopause, because of the risk of health complications. There were fewer than five births to women aged 50 and over after receiving treatment in the UK using their own eggs in 2019, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). This jumped to 55 when using donor eggs.
Dr Ippokratis Sarris, consultant and director of King’s Fertility, said he thinks “every clinic” has been approached by women aged 50 and over asking about fertility treatment.
While he has occasionally seen women in their 60s, this has been because they wanted to explore the possibility of being a surrogate for a daughter or relative who cannot carry their own baby. But the same limits and considerations apply.
He said: “Because we can do something medically, it doesn’t always mean that we should.” Older mothers have a higher risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and having a premature baby. They also often require C-sections and may need to stay in hospital for several days or weeks after the birth.
Dr Mathur said there are “clinical, medical, and some ethical issues with donor egg conceptions in women of increased years, especially those over 50.”
Susan Bewley, Emeritus Professor of Obstetric and Women’s Health at King’s College London, said “the birth of a healthy baby is a joy, at any age, in any way.” But she added: “Maternal death and near-misses, like going into ICU or having a massive haemorrhage, all those things go up exponentially with age. Even if the egg is young, the body is not young.”