The first part of a two-year study by researchers at the Institute of Child Health, part of University College London, used data from the Millennium Cohort Study and the National Evaluation of Sure Start to compare the health of children born to women over 40 with that of children born to younger mothers.
Previous studies have found an increased risk to older mothers and their children of health problems such as premature birth, growth problems for the child in the womb and genetic conditions such as Down Syndrome.
The research looked at households within the bottom 20 per cent of socio-economic areas and studied 510 children born to mothers aged 40 years or over at nine months, and 463 children at three years, and compared the findings with 25,000 other children. The study used four measures to analyse child health: whether the child had had an accident within the past year, if the child had been admitted to hospital, whether the child had been immunised and his or her Body Mass Index (BMI).
It found that children born to women over 40 were less likely to have had an accident and to have been admitted to hospital. At nine months children were more likely to have been immunised, but at three years they were less likely to be up to date with their vaccinations. This is believed to be due to the media coverage given to Dr Andrew Wakefield's discredited study on the link between the MMR jab and autism, which was followed by a significant fall in the number of children being immunised.
Dr Alastair Sutcliffe from the Institute of Child Health, who led the study, said, 'The study does not contradict research about the antenatal risks to older mothers, but it shows there are some health benefits for their children. Overall, the outcomes for older mothers were all positive or benign. The second phase of the study will be looking at parenting, child development and older fathers.'
The study, Health of children born to mothers aged 40 years or over: analyses of two national cohort studies, is funded by the Wellcome Trust and was presented on 5 April at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Annual Conference in Warwick.
