Older Women Have Reduced Risk of Having a Child With Congenital Defects

As a woman gets older, there is a higher risk when it comes to pregnancy. Despite the fact that women who are 35 or older tend to have more babies born with Down Syndrome, new research reveals that they also give birth to children with fewer physical defects.

Women ages 35 and older carry a greater risk of producing a child that carries a chromosomal abnormality, a result of nondisjunction during meiosis when chromosomes fail to separate. While there has been research on chromosomal abnormalities, not much has been researched concerning congenital defects which affect the heart, brain, kidneys, bones, and gastrointestinal tract.

The study, conducted by investigators at Washington University in St. Louis, analyzed the obstetric and ultrasound data from 76,000 women during their second trimesters. Besides taking into account the mother’s age, they also looked at the severity of the defects.

What researchers found was that overall, older women have a forty percent less chance of having a child with a physical abnormality. While the rate of children born with congenital heart defects remained about the same, the found that abnormalities in other organ systems were much lower.

As more and more women delay pregnancy, this serves as some reassurance that they have an increased chance of having a physically normal child.