Newborn Health Indicators Associated with Maternal Age during First Pregnancy

Leticia Molina-García, Manuel Hidalgo-Ruiz, Ana María Cámara-Jurado, Maria Jose Fernández-Valero, Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez and Juan Miguel Martínez-Galiano
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Leticia Molina-García: Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, 23007 Jaén, Spain
Manuel Hidalgo-Ruiz: Hospital San Juan de la Cruz, 23400 Úbeda, Spain
Ana María Cámara-Jurado: Hospital San Agustín, 23700 Linares, Spain
Maria Jose Fernández-Valero: Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, 23007 Jaén, Spain
Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez: Department of Health Sciences, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain
Juan Miguel Martínez-Galiano: Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: Delaying motherhood is becoming increasingly common, raising questions of the possible influence that maternal age may have on newborn health. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the association between maternal age and different newborn health parameters. An observational study was conducted in Spain on primiparous women and their infants. Data were collected on newborn health variables, breastfeeding, and different clinical practices that are beneficial for child health and development. Crude and adjusted mean differences were calculated along with the standard error of the mean. A total of 373 women and their children participated. In terms of early commencement skin-to-skin contact, the mean age of women that did skin-to-skin contact was 29.95 ± 0.31 years compared to 31.49 ± 0.66 years in those that did not ( p = 0.042). In terms of other newborn parameters, such as preterm birth, health problems or complications, or the need for hospital admission, these were more frequent in the oldest group of mothers, but the differences found were not significant ( p > 0.05). Hence, indicators of newborn morbidity were not found to be significantly associated with maternal age; however, beneficial practices such as early commencement skin-to-skin contact were found to be significantly associated with maternal age.

Keywords: maternal age; neonatal outcomes; child; breastfeeding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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