COMMENT There's an "epidemic" and it's not bird flu nor tuberculosis. No: it's in the UK, it affects females over the age of 35 and the disease is "older mothers". For, as a British Medical Journal editorial said last week, older motherhood is less probable in the first place, more dangerous and "risks heartbreak".
Delaying babies, the authors say, "defies nature". Increased maternal age, they add, brings, among other things, an increased risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and chromosomal abnormalities and an increased rate of the baby being premature, stillborn or admitted to intensive care. Additionally, older fathers are linked with an increased risk of schizophrenia and certain genetic diseases in their children. While for a pregnant older woman as an individual, the chances are still for a good outcome, the shift of the population towards older pregnancy is concerning, the authors say.
