With the changing life patterns for women in current society, increasing number of women has a tendency to postpone childbearing. Advanced maternal age has become a topic of widespread public interest, but the obstetric literature has not been
as
abundant in addressing this concern. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of maternal older age on reproductive performance. The 150 cases of elderly primiparas at the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital
from
January 1990 to december 1995 were compared with 155 cases of randomly chosen young primiparas during the same period.
@ES The results were as follows :
1. There were 150 cases of elderly primiparas among the total 7649 deliveries, and incidence of the elderly primipara was 1.9%.
2. 2. Maternal age was distributed from 35 to 44 years of age. The majority(65.3%) were in the age between 35 and 36 years. For the past 6 years. For the past 6 years, no difference was found in the distribution of year.
3. There was a significantly increased induced abortion rate and breech presentation in elderly primipara.
4. Among antenatal complications, premature rupture of membrane was the highest incidence in elderly primipara(22.7%) and control group(19.4%). The incidence of myoma was 16 cases(10.7) in elderly primipara specifically.
5. There was a significant difference in the duration of gestational age. The preterm delivery rate was significantly increased in elderly primipara 9 cases (6.0%) compared with control group 4 cases(2.6%).
6. Concerning the modes of delivery, there was a significantly increased rate of cesarean section(78.7%) in elderly primipara. The most frequent indication for cesarean section was elderly primipara(59.3%). Other indications were cephalopelvic
disproportion,breech presentation, placenta previa and failure to progress in frequency order.
7. The mean duration of labor was 8.5 hours in elderly primipara, and there was no statistical difference between the two group.
8. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in birth weight and Apgar score. In elderly primipara, there was 1 case of intrauterine fetal death and no congenital malformation.
9. Among the postpartum complications, there was a significant increase in anemia in elderly primipara 47 cases(31.3%).
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