Children Of Older Mothers Research Articles

The relationship between age of mother and child health and development.

This study investigates the relationship between age of mother and children's health and development at birth and at approximately three years of age. The sample is composed of Black and Hispanic women and their firstborn children who were delivered on the wards of a large New York City hospital in 1975. There were no differences between children of teenage and older mothers in terms of prematurity or birthweight, but the children of younger mothers had higher Apgar scores than those of older mothers. Age of mother was not significantly related to hospitalizations, the need to see a physician regularly, or abnormal weight. Although the number of injurious conditions and the incidence of burns were higher among the children of adolescent mothers, the effect of age of mother was not independent of other factors. The children of teenage mothers scored better than those of older mothers on the total Denver Developmental Screening Test, as well as on the Fine Motor sector. These findings thus suggest that when relevant background characteristics are controlled, children of teenage mothers are as healthy and develop as well as children of older mothers.

Impaired Cellular Immunity to Cytomegalovirus in Congenitally Infected Children and Their Mothers

Cell-mediated immunity to cytomegalovirus (CMV) was determined in congenitally infected children and their mothers by use of assays for CMV-specific lymphocyte blastogenesis and interferon production. Six viruric children responded poorly in both assays. Two older nonviruric children responded in the blastogenesis assay, and lymphocytes from one of them produced interferon. Mothers of older children usually responded in the blastogenesis assay, but only one of them produced interferon. Mothers whose infected infants were younger than nine months of age responded poorly in both assays, while control seropositive postpartum women generally responded normally. The cell-mediated immune defects detected in this study may play a role in the pathogenesis of congenital CMV infection.

Genetic counseling for the older pregnant woman: new data and questions.

It has become accepted medical practice to inform pregnant women 35 years of age and older of their increased risk of having a child with chromosome abnormality in comparison to younger women, and to offer prenatal diagnosis to determine whether the fetus is affected. The focus has been on the older pregnant woman because the autosomal trisomies 21 (the Down syndrome), 18 and 13 have been found to be more common in the children of older mothers and because most of the affected infants have been born to women over 35.1 It has therefore been postulated that the extra chromosome . . .