Maternal Age Gradient in Children’s Outcomes Among Mothers Conceiving With Medically Assisted Reproduction

Alice Goisis , University College London
Anna Barbuscia, University of Oxford
Mikko Myrskyla, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

A consistent evidence shows that children conceived through medically assisted reproduction (MAR) are at higher risk of poorer birth outcomes and especially of being low birth weight and born pre-term. As many women undertake MAR treatments at a relatively advanced age, which is itself a well-known risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, it has been suggested that the older age of MAR mothers might play an important role in the observed association between the use of treatments and birth outcomes. However, the existing evidence is scarce and inconclusive. In this study we use large-scale Finnish register data to examine the association between maternal age and low birth weight among MAR mothers, and whether the maternal age gradient in birth outcomes differ from mothers who conceive naturally. The results from the linear probability models show a stronger maternal age gradient among mothers who conceived naturally compared to MAR mothers.

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 Presented in Session 11. Health & Mortality 2