Pregnancy outcome in nulliparous women aged 35 or older.

Our objective was to examine pregnancy outcome in women age 35 and over. We compared pregnancy delivery complications in 207 women aged 35 years and older with 219 control women aged 25 - 29 years. Data was collected retrospectively and stratified by parity. Results of statistical analysis showed that the older women differed significantly in (1) antepartum factors (previous pregnancy experience, chronic and pregnancy-induced hypertension, maternal and gestational diabetes, placenta previa) (2) intrapartum factors (malpresentations, fetal disproportions, abnormal labour, caesarean and operative vaginal delivery) (3) neonatal outcomes (birth asphyxia, prematurity, low birth weight, neonatal intensive care unit admissions). However, birth trauma and perinatal mortality did not differ between the two groups. We concluded that pregnancies in older women are prone to complications, but when managed accordingly the overall perinatal outcomes were good.