Maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnant women with advanced maternal age

Abstract

Introduction: pregnancy in the extreme ages of life is an undeniable risk.
Objective: describe the maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnant women with advanced age.
Methods: an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in patients admitted to the Obstetrics Service of the General Teaching Hospital in Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, Cuba from 1st October 2011 to September 30, 2015. The sample consisted of 372 pregnant women aged 35 years or older with gestations older than 22 weeks who had their deliveries in the institution.
Results: the predominant age group was 35 to 39 years (87.1 %). Women having their second delivery accounted for 46.3 %. Vaginitis, obesity and anemia were associated diseases presented by 78.5 %, 45.7 % and 22.8 % respectively. Gestational hypertensive disease (19.1 %) and oligohydramnios (17.7 %) were the most frequently pathologies. Almost all of the pregnant women achieved full term delivery (97.6 %). The spontaneous onset of labor occurred in 63.2 %. The cesarean indication was 40.1 %. 88.2 % of the infants were normal and 94.8 % had good Apgar at birth. Fetal mortality was 2.2 %. Hyperbilirubinemia (2.4 %) and congenital malformations (2.2 %) were the most common neonatal morbidity. 79 % had a physiological puerperium.
Conclusions: advanced maternal age increased the number of distal births and had a negative influence on the indicators of perinatal morbidity and mortality. There is a tendency to increase births in advanced ages in this locality.