Mother's poor health is making pregnancy riskier, not age

Its not advanced age that is causing a rise in pregnancy complications rather the poor health of the mother is to be blamed suggests a researchThe study led by a team from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago US showed that rising rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy preterm birth and low birthweight over the past 10 years are largely attributable to the health status of a person before they get pregnant rather than ageThe study found that the average age of pregnant individuals rose from 279 years in 2011 to 291 years in 2019 yet age accounted for only a small portion of the marked increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes seen during the same periodMost striking the rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy high blood pressure with or without preeclampsia or eclampsia rose by over 50 per cent during the decade yet the shift in age distribution of those giving birth accounted for less than two per cent of that changeAlthough mothers are getting older at the time they deliver that is not whats causing these adverse birth outcomes said lead author Zachary Hughes an internal medicine physician at Northwestern Memorial HospitalWhats really driving it is prepregnancy health issues like diabetes and hypertension Thats important to know because these are factors we could potentially modifyUsing data from the National Center for Health Statistics Natality Files researchers compared rates of preeclampsia and eclampsia preterm birth and low birthweight among 39 million births in 2011 and 37 million births in 2019The results showed moderate increases in preterm birth and low birthweight which rose by about two per cent and four per cent respectively and larger increases in hypertensive disorders a 52 per cent increaseUsing statistical methods to analyse the role of age in these changes researchers found the shift in age distribution accounted for only a small portion of the increase across all outcomes assessedAdverse pregnancy outcomes have important health consequences including an increased risk of heart disease both at the time of pregnancy and later in life not only for the person giving birth but also for the babyResearchers said preventing these adverse outcomes could help reduce cardiovascular risk throughout each lifespanAcross all age groups people giving birth in their late teens to early thirties saw the steepest increases in adverse pregnancy outcomesFurther research is needed to determine which specific health issues such as obesity diabetes hypertension or other factors are driving these pregnancy complications in younger people researchers saidAlso Read How this Mumbai supermom is helping disabled children to learn betterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever