The debate about the age a woman ‘should’ or ‘should not’ be while pregnant has always triggered plenty of discussion.

 

Here’s what we know so far: a Stanford study previously suggested that age is a factor in low birth weight, with researchers claiming that women under 18 and over 35 years of age are more likely to have children with low birth weight.

 

A London-based analysis of birth data also previously linked higher rates of premature birth with ‘older’ mothers.

 

So, what’s the latest finding on the subject? According to researchers from the London School of Economics, being an ‘older’ mum does not in itself result in an increase in birth risks.

 

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, claims that while pre-term deliveries and low birth weight still occur more often where the mother is older; her age, specifically, is not the cause.

 

 

To arrive at this discovery, the team analysed data from thousands of Finnish families. Each family recorded having at least two children born to the same mother between the years 1987 and 2000.

 

The research team then analysed their results; they found that the advancing age of the mother did not increase the risk of poor birth outcomes.

 

However, when they moved outside of the family and compared data from children born to different mothers, at different ages; they found that the risks did increase.

 

So, here’s the conclusion: while pre-term deliveries and low birth weight were found to still occur more often where the mother was older, this wasn’t just an ‘age thing’ – there are clearly other health and lifestyle factors at play.

 

Explaining the results, study author Alice Goisis wrote: “For the individual mother, age is not the real cause of the increase in birth risks.

 

 

“The true reasons are more likely to be individual circumstances in the life of the parents or behaviours that are more common in older adults.”

 

Co-author Mikko Myrskyla added: “Our findings suggest that women should not be concerned about their age per se, when considering to have a child.

 

“It seems that individual life circumstances and behavioural choices are more important than age.”

 

What are your thoughts, mums? Be sure to let us know in the comment section.

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