Dena Jaffe1, Liron Kogan2, Orly Manor3, Yuval Gielchinsky2, Uri Dior4, Neri Laufer2. 1. Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: denaj@ekmd.huji.ac.il. 2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. 3. Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. 4. Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To examine the association between the mother's age at last birth and maternal long-term survival. METHODS: Data from three national censuses (1972, 1983, and 1995) and national birth and death records (1972-2009) were used to examine the association between age at last birth and mortality while accounting for potential confounders, such as parity. Age-adjusted mortality rates and Cox proportional hazard models were used in the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 887 women who delivered their last child after 45 years of age were identified from among 178,507 women (1,592,379 person-years). Age-adjusted mortality rates from 55 years of age were highest for childless women (9.2 per 1000) and decreased linearly (P < .001) for parous women with increased age at last birth (5.2 per 1000 for women aged ≥45 years at last birth). In models adjusted for age at first birth and parity, mortality risks were lowest among parous women with late-age births (≥45 years) compared with parous women with their last births before 35 years of age (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new empirical evidence that late-age births are associated with maternal longevity, although a direct causal relation cannot be established with the information available.
PURPOSE: To examine the association between the mother's age at last birth and maternal long-term survival. METHODS: Data from three national censuses (1972, 1983, and 1995) and national birth and death records (1972-2009) were used to examine the association between age at last birth and mortality while accounting for potential confounders, such as parity. Age-adjusted mortality rates and Cox proportional hazard models were used in the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 887 women who delivered their last child after 45 years of age were identified from among 178,507 women (1,592,379 person-years). Age-adjusted mortality rates from 55 years of age were highest for childless women (9.2 per 1000) and decreased linearly (P < .001) for parous women with increased age at last birth (5.2 per 1000 for women aged ≥45 years at last birth). In models adjusted for age at first birth and parity, mortality risks were lowest among parous women with late-age births (≥45 years) compared with parous women with their last births before 35 years of age (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new empirical evidence that late-age births are associated with maternal longevity, although a direct causal relation cannot be established with the information available.