Relationship between mother's age and health care received by the firstborn child

Data from a British national study of all children born in one week of 1958 were used to test whether there was any relationship between the age of the mother at the time of the birth of her first child and the health care received by the child up to 7 years of age. This relationship was tested before and after statistically removing the effects of several potentially confounding social factors (social class, education level, and housing facilities), which were thought to associate with maternal age. The results indicated that maternal age effects were significant for attendance at infant and toddler clinics, but generally less important than social factors for immunization acceptances. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.