According to recent studies, peripartum cardiomyopathy is one of the hidden risks to which they are exposed to if they get pregnant after 35 years. It is a rare complication of pregnancy and has a mortality rate of over 85%.

For you information, cardiomyopathy is an abnormality of the heart muscle, which extends and reduces the action of pumping blood. Lungs filling with fluid is a common symptom of this disease. This complication causes severe shortness of breath.

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A woman is born with a limited number of eggs. Therefore, a decrease in fertility is a common issue. Medically, a woman is left with only 12% of her ovarian reserve, when she reaches the age of 30 and this reserve declines to 3% by the time she reaches 40. Therefore, if you are above 35 and you are facing difficulties with conceiving even after 6 months of unprotected sex, you need to consider a medical evaluation.

The second biggest problem associated with pregnancy after 35 is fatigue. It is common for women to feel tired due to hormonal changes during pregnancy, but fatigue becomes more pronounced in women after a particular age. In case, if pregnant women have to deal with other children in the house, then they tend to feel more tired.

If you already have a child, you are more prone to problems like hemorrhoids, increased pressure on the bladder, problems associated with uterus, vagina, and breasts. This is because muscles and other tissues in these areas are already stretched.

The chance to have twins increases with age and the previous number of pregnancies. The use of assisted reproductive techniques in pregnancy after 35 is also responsible here because they use ovarian hyperstimulation methods with a higher probability of obtaining a multiple pregnancies.

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Unfortunately, about one-third of all pregnancies of women between 35 and 44 years ends in a miscarriage. The reasons are multiple: the eggs may be imperfect, the lining of the uterus may not be quite thick, or blood from the uterus may not be enough to sustain a pregnancy.

A woman aged 20-24 has a spontaneous abortion rate of 9%, while the risk increases to 20% between 35 and 39 and more than 50% to 42 years.

Babies born to women as a result of pregnancy after 35 are always at a risk of low birth weight (below 2.5 kg). The risk of chromosomal birth defects increases steadily every year after age 35. After this age, chances of having a baby with down syndrome and chromosomal abnormalities are very high. Down syndrome is a lifelong condition in which a person is born with facial disfigurements, intellectual disabilities, and developmental delays. Here are the ratios –

• At 25 years – 1: 1250
• At 30 years – 1: 1000
• At 35 years – 1: 400
• At 40 years – 1: 100
• At 45 years – 1: 30
• At 49 years – 1: 10

Labor problems are more common in women over 35, especially if you are getting pregnant for the first time. This also increases the risk of placenta praevia (a condition in which the placenta covers the uterine cervix).

However, things can be better with a little extra care. If you are planning to have a pregnancy after 35, preconception counseling can offer a huge help.

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Your doctor will focus on those conditions and risk factors that may impact on your health or on your pregnancy. In my next article, I will be talking about these.