Pregnancy Over 40: Risks & Opportunities

Nowadays, motherhood at advanced ages is progressively in-creased due to socio-economic status. Moreover, developments in assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as oocyte and embryo donation, offer pregnancy options for peri-menopausal women. So that live births for women aged ≥45 years reported approximately 0.05–0.2% of all births.On the other hand, pregnancy among women of advanced ma-ternal age (AMA) is highly related to adverse maternal and fe-tal outcomes. Maternal complications such as hypertension and diabetes, post-partum hemorrhage, placental abruption, as well as increased rates of abortion, still birth, fetal anomalies and malformations were stated. Furthermore, some long-term ef-fects in post-menopausal period were mentioned among AMA women. As, it has been found that women, who have pregnancy in advanced ages, were 50% more likely to be involved in hem-orrhagic stroke in later stages.However, it is ethically argued that IVF itself is a principled method to carry out in women of AMA, it is further debated that this is unfair to get women s right of maternity in advanced age. Therefore, it is preferred that AMA women be completely informed about the success rates and hazards such as multiple gestations as a minimum risk related to ART.In conclusion, there are significant ethical concerns and medi-cal (maternal and fetal) complications related to pregnancy in AMA women. It is recommended that physical, psychological, financial, and social resources should be implemented for early marriage and natural childbearing.