Women of advanced age
Late Marriage And Normalisation
In recent years, the age of marriage has become increasingly older. Relevant data show that the proportion of women who get pregnant in their twenties has decreased, while the proportion of women who get pregnant after 35 has increased by almost 40%. Especially after the government’s liberalisation of the two-child policy in recent years, many older women have joined the ranks of senior mothers.
According to medical experts, the optimal age for women to give birth is 24 to 30 years old, and primigravid women over 35 years old are medically known as advanced primigravid women. Fetal intrauterine growth retardation and preterm delivery are more likely in women of advanced maternal age.
This is reflected in the fact that the weight of premature or full-term newborns is lower than that of normal children of the same gestational age, and that there is an increase in unexplained stillbirths and a relative increase in the rate of congenital malformations.
Problems faced by women of advanced maternal age
Egg Aging
The primordial germ cells of a woman are formed in the foetus. If she is too old for childbearing, her eggs become more affected by the environment and disease, her ovaries begin to lose their function, and she is prone to chromosomal ageing of her eggs, which ultimately leads to a higher incidence of teratogenicity.
The consequence of this is the emergence of malformed and mentally retarded foetuses. In fact, this is the greatest danger that mothers of advanced age have to face. Difficulty in labour, vulnerability to malformations, increased risk of cancer, and mental stress are all cause for great concern.
Easy to grow teratogenic
In the case of a child with congenital trisomy 21, for example, the abnormality occurs due to a malfunction of the child’s chromosome 21, which is one chromosome more than normal. 90% of such chromosomal problems are due to errors in the division of the mother’s oocyte, and the incidence of such errors is directly related to the mother’s age. At the age of 21, women give birth to children with congenital stupidity at a rate of 1:1,667, at the age of 35 it reaches 1:375, and at the age of 45 it even reaches 1:30.
The incidence of some other congenital diseases, such as congenital cardiovascular malformations and cleft lip, also increases significantly. In addition, some foreign research data also indicate that children born to parents over 40 years of age are more likely to suffer from leukaemia.
Difficulty in labour
Advanced maternal age creates many problems of its own. Because of their age, the birth canal and the joints of the perineum and pelvis are hardened and cannot be easily dilated, and the contractility of the uterus and the elasticity of the vagina are poorer, which prolongs the time of labour and makes it more likely that the birth will be difficult.
As a result, the foetus will be difficult to deliver, which will greatly increase the risk of complications for the mother; at the same time, the foetus will easily be retained in the uterus, causing foetal distress. The threat to the foetus from this kind of distress disorder may be as serious as asphyxiation, or even irreversible brain damage, which may affect the foetus’ heart and brain.
Harm To Yourself
Pregnant women of advanced age are also prone to complications such as gestational hypertension syndrome and gestational diabetes, and are therefore more susceptible to gestational toxicity. The most serious symptoms of gestational hypertension are pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, which are life-threatening to both mother and foetus. If it is accompanied by other diseases, it can lead to premature deterioration of the placenta, which is even more detrimental to the foetus, and these should be given high priority.
