Women who have a baby aged 40 or over are at an increased risk of stillbirth, US researchers have warned. Older motherhood can be controversial - as the case of Patricia Rashbrook whose son was born when she was 63 showed. A UK expert said it may be worth considering introducing more testing for pregnant women over 40.
Last year, the number of births among women aged 40 to 44 rose 6% in England and Wales. Around 10 babies are stillborn each day in the UK. Most stillbirths are unexplained. Difficulties in previous pregnancies, such as pre eclampsia, problems with the position of the placenta which hamper natural delivery and diabetes can increase the risk. But the US researchers wanted to see if age alone, rather than a health problem in a previous pregnancy, affected the risk of both stillbirth and the death of a child in the womb for older mothers. They looked at over 11 million babies born to women aged 15 to 44 between 1995 and 1997. When maternal complications and congenital abnormalities in the foetus were excluded, six million babies remained.
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