Advanced maternal age is when a woman is over the age of 35, and the pregnancy is considered to be high risk. This is due to the fact that people over the age of 35 are more likely than younger women to have medical conditions and complications. A lot of women wait until age 35 to have a child because by then, they have higher education levels and have established their careers. The way society is how left women feeling like they are emotionally or physically ready to have a child, not efficient childcare options, or economic uncertainty. The longer women wait to have a child the more health complication they will endure. The risk for chromosome problems increases with the mother’s age. Prenatal testing can help diagnose or rule out possible chromosomal problem and other genetic birth defects. Some testing involves blood tests, ultrasounds, chorionic villus sampling, which is a test done on samples of the tissues, another test is amniocentesis and cell- free fetal DNA.
There are many risks associated with advanced maternal age for both mother and child. Some of the risks that come with pregnant after 35 includes premature births which are babies born before 37 weeks, birth defects such as Down Syndrome which changes the shape and body functions of the chromosomes, getting pregnant with twins, triplets or more at one time. The mother can develop preeclampsia after the 20-week mark of pregnancy. When a pregnant woman has high blood pressure and signs that their organs are not properly working, they have preeclampsia. Signs of preeclampsia are protein in urine, changes in vision, and severe headaches. The mother can also develop the risks of pre-existing diabetes, gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. C-sections, stillbirths, and miscarriages are more common risks then the others. Trisomy 21, Trisomy 18, Trisomy 13, triple X syndrome, and Klinefelter’s syndrome are chromosomal abnormalities due to maternal age.
There has been many technologies and test that have been created to find the risks associated with high risk pregnancies. One technologies is Chorionic villus sampling, which checks the genetic mishaps in the fetus. Another test that is used is an amniocentesis. Amniocentesis is done in order to show the sex of the baby and check to see if the baby will have genetic problems. If someone wants to have a high risk pregnancy then they should, they shouldn’t let people or the internet defer them for it.
Sources
https://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/pregnancy-after-35
https://women.texaschildrens.org/program/high-risk-pregnancy-care/conditions/advanced-maternal-age
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=90&ContentID=P02481