Study on Impact of Maternal Age on Pregnancy Outcome at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

This was a study to find a correlation between the maternal age and obstetric and fetal outcome. This was a retrospective study conducted at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital. The study groups were women delivering over 2 months. Data was collected from the parturition register in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study group were divided into 5 groups from 1 to 5 based on age as, less than 20 years, 20-24 years , 25-29 years , 30-34 years and 35 years of age and above, respectively. The obstetric data collected were entered in micro soft excel sheet and analyzed. The total number of deliveries during the study period was 251. The average age of the woman delivered was 23.8 years. The percentage of women under different age groups were as follows: 2.79 % were teenagers and 2.79% of women were more than 35 years of age. 46.61%, 36.65% and 11.15 % were between 20-24 yrs, 25-29 years of age and 30 to 34 years of age. As age increased, gravidity increased. 71.43%, 45.61%, 39.65%, 11.5% and 28% were vaginal deliveries in each group. The proportion of caesarian deliveries increased as age advanced. In group one all were term deliveries, where as in other groups, the percentages were 76.92, 76.09, 75 and 71.42% respectively. The average weights of the babies were 2.6 kg, 2.868 kg, 2.873 kg, 2.841 kg and 2.8 kg, respectively. There were 14.28%, 23.93%, 34.78% and 25 % NICU admissions among the first 4 groups, respectively. There were 1.09%, 3.5% and 14.28% of intrauterine deaths in groups 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Majority of the study group belonged to 20-24 yrs. As maternal age increased, there was increase in gravidity, caesarean deliveries, increased preterm deliveries, neonatal admissions and intrauterine deaths.