If the mother to be is too young, she has nutritional needs for her OWN growth PLUS her pregnancy needs. If the mother to be is older, she has an increased risk of gestational diabetes. Each mother needs to give herself at least 2 years between pregnancies.
Age also seems to effect reproduction in terms of chromosomal abnormalities, as well.
Keep in kind that studies of the same sort have not been completed on fathers. At present, research is showing that at least a third of all cases of trisomy 21 are paternal. Complex Metabolic Interactions of Gestation. This table is only a review of that which you learned during fetal development in BIOL 224. Additionally, as you learned in BIOL 224, the greatest welfare factor on fetal development is that the chorionic villi are bathed by maternal blood.