Mental Health

Children Born to Older Women Have Better Start in Life

By Drishya Nair | Update Date: Aug 23, 2012 09:26 AM EDT

A latest study claims that children born to older women apparently have a healthier start in life and are less likely to be admitted to hospital and more likely to have vital immunization jabs.

Other benefits of children of older mothers were faster language learning skills, lower social and emotional difficulties before they turned five.

For the study, researchers from University College London analyzed data from more than 78,000 children born in England between 2000 and 2002 to mothers aged between 13 and 57 years, Mail Online reported.

In developed nations, more and more women are opting for later pregnancy and reportedly, in England and Wales, the number of births given by women aged 40 and above soared from 1989 to 2009 to almost 27,000. 

Although extensive research has been conducted on early motherhood and its impact on the child's development, there is little evidence of any effects of older mothers.

For the current study, the researchers looked at factors such as the weight of the child at birth, accidents, hospital admissions and language development.

Taken into consideration, were factors such as the child's sex, age, birth weight, father's age, family income and social class.

It was found that both the risk of accidents and hospital admissions were inversely proportional to increasing maternal age.

The study statistics showed that while the risk of a nine-month-old child with a 20-year-old mother having an accident was 9.5 per cent, it was only 6.1% for in case of a mother of 40.

Similar results were found in case of the risk of a child being hospitalized and their likeliness of getting their vital immunizations.

According to authors, this could be due to the fact that older mothers tend to be more educated, have higher incomes and be married - all the factors which are necessary for a child's well-being.

They concluded that the "findings are noteworthy given the continuing increase in average age at maternity," the report said.

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