All women, I think, must first understand that fertility decreases as you grow older as a result of decreasing reproductive efficiency. Due to the huge strides made in assisted reproductive technology, many women who in the past would have been unable to achieve conception are now doing so. However, women who receive medical assistance with reproduction have a greater incidence of conceiving triplets or more, which increases their risk for developing medical complications during pregnancy. This is true for women well into their forties. However, it is still important for women to understand that if they choose to postpone childbirth they will hold a greater risk for developing certain medical complications during their pregnancies which can potentially threaten their health and the health of their unborn children.
Genetic tests can help detect disorders.
While diabetes and high blood pressure in pregnant women can cause their babies to die in the womb, these factors did not appear to be responsible for older women's increased risk of fetal death. Advanced maternal age, standing alone, was found to be a risk factor for fetal death. Results of this study indicated that older pregnant Canadian women were twice as likely as their younger counterparts to lose their babies. We should note, here, that the United States has a 20 to 30 percent higher fetal death rate than Canada, due, in part, to the differences in the health care systems of these countries. Although fetal death rate was found to be more common in older Canadian women, study investigators were unable to determine its cause.