Pregnancy in women over the age of forty

ABSTRACT

The pregnancies of women 40 years and over who delivered at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, Trinidad, during 1978, were reviewed in order to establish to what extent such women constitute a high-risk group. Seventy-four per cent were grandmultiparae (5 or more viable pregnancies) and the Caesarian section rate was high as 14.3 per cent. The majority of Caesarian sections (73 per cent) were performed in grandmultiparous patients. Pre-eclampsia occurred in a third of patients studied. Anaemia, pre-mature labour and post-partum haemorrhage were other common complications. In view of these findings, it is strongly recommended that greater emphasis be placed on family planning in order to eliminate parturient women beyond 40 years of age, and in particular, those who are highly parous (AU)