In a study to be presented on Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. CST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting-, in New Orleans, researchers will report that women ages 35 and older are at a decreased risk of having a child with a major congenital malformation, after excluding chromosomal abnormalities.
Advanced maternal age, traditionally defined as 35 and older, is a well-established risk factor for having a child with a chromosomal abnormality, such as Down syndrome. However, little information is available regarding the association between advanced maternal age and the risk for having a child with a major congenital malformation-a physical defect present at birth that can involve different parts of the body, including but not limited to the heart, brain, kidney, bones or intestinal track.
In order to address this question, this retrospective study used obstetric and ultrasound information collected from over 76,000 women at the time they presented for their routine second trimester ultrasound at Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.). Researchers compared the incidence of having one or more major congenital malformations diagnosed at the time of ultrasound in women who were younger than 35 versus those women 35 years and older.
