Triplet pregnancies in women aged 40 or older: a matched control study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine, in triplet pregnancies, if maternal age is associated with adverse outcome in terms of birth weight characteristics.

STUDY DESIGN

We analyzed a nationwide cohort of live-born triplets compiled by Matria Healthcare (Marietta, Georgia). We compared all 171 mothers > or = 40 years old with randomly selected and matched-for-parity mothers aged 25-29 and 35-39 years. The main outcome measures were length of gestation and individual and total triplet birth weight. All the subjects had private health insurance. The sample size was adequate to detect 5% differences at a power of 80%.

RESULTS

Birth weights for infants A, B and C were significantly higherfor mothers > or = 40 years (P = .016, .01, and .03, respectively); total triplet birth weight was significantly higher as compared with that in the younger controls (P =.01). Gestational ages were similar in the 3 groups. In addition, the frequencies of births at < 28 weeks and of < 1,000 g were reduced by one-third or more in women aged 40 or older as compared to the younger controls (2.3% vs. 6.4% and 4.5% vs. 7.0%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Older mothers of triplets have better outcomes than do their younger counterparts in terms of total triplet birth weight.