Reducing birth defect risk in advanced maternal age
M. F. Goldberg, L. D. Edmonds and G. P. Oakley
The incidence of birth defects increases with maternal age. Recent advances
in fetal diagnosis, coupled with elective abortion, offer the older
pregnant woman an opportunity to reduce this risk. To determine the
magnitude of potential risk reduction, we reviewed the maternal
age-specific incidence of infants born with one or more severe birth
defects in metropolitan Atlanta from 1968 to 1975, removing from analysis
certain anomalies that were preventable by currently available methods. For
women aged 35 to 44 years, the risk of bearing an infant with a severe
birth defect was reduced to a level comparable with that for younger women.
Despite prenatal diagnosis and elective abortion, the risk for women aged
45 years or older, although reduced considerably, was two times greater
than that for women aged 34 years or younger.
