Abstract
Summary
A retrospective analysis of 106 pregnancies occurring in women above the age of 45 years showed increased maternal complications and perinatal mortality. The commonest maternal complications included hypertensive disorders (28 percent) diabetes mellitus (12 per cent) and abruptio placentae (6 per cent). The caesarean section rate (24 per cent) was five times the overall incidence. Postpartum haemorrhage, requiring blood transfusion, occurred in 6 per cent of patients. The perinatal mortality rate in the study group (113/1000 deliveries) was three times that in the hospital as a whole (38/1000 deliveries). Stillbirth represented two-thirds of the perinatal deaths in elderly women. The incidences of high birth weight and low birth weight infants, 14 and 17 per cent respectively, were not significantly higher than the rates in the general hospital obstetric population. Congenital malformations occurred in 5 per cent of the infants, including 1 mongol.