Maternal age as risk factor of prematurity in Spain; Mediterranean area

Maternal age is a preponderant variable in the epidemiological analysis of the premature birth. Studies show that in the extreme ages of the maternal life there is a risk of premature birth that generates a high rate of neonatal morbidity.

[corrected] Determine the effect on the extreme ages of women residents in the province of Alicante on the total of the premature births.

An explanatory, retrospective case-control study was conducted during the period from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2011. The study was based on the revision of the newborn registers from the Neonatal Screening Center of the province of Alicante. All the preterm were included, this means between 22 & 36 complete weeks of pregnancy (5,295 out of 78,391 newborn which represents 6.75% of prematurity), and a random sample of the deliveries with 37 weeks or more of pregnancy (control group). The age of the mother was studied as independent variable and the prematurity as dependent variable.

Clearly shows an increased risk of prematurity among teenage mothers compared to the age group nearest to them, which is confirmed by a squared Chi test which gives a significantly different distribution (p < 0,0001) and an OD for very preterm of 2,41 (1,51-3,24) and of preterm of 1,71 (1,32-2,19). This probability is also higher among mothers over 40 years old with an OD of 1,86 (1,39-2,48) and 1,66 (1,44-1,91) for very preterm newborns and preterm newborns respectively.

The results clearly manifest that teenagers and older pregnant mothers are at higher prematurity and low birth weight risk, therefore imposes the need to trace educational interventions to minimize this problem from the results in this research.