Delayed parenthood and pregnancy outcome in Italy. Comparison between single and twin births

In Italy, during the second half of the last century, prenatal and obstetric care has drastically improved, as also testified by the decrease in stillbirth rate. At the same time, the progressive increase in the number of educated and working women has caused the tendency to delay parenthood. Since it is well known that aged mothers, especially primiparae, run higher risk for either their health and that of the conceptus, we studied firstly the evolution of the relation between mother age and stillbirth rates, both in singletons and in twins, who in turn are at higher risk than single birth. Secondly, we analysed two types of adverse pregnancy outcomes, that is stillbirth and very preterm birth, on 1990-96 firstborns. We showed that a higher risk is associated not only with maternal old age in comparison with the younger counterpart, but that also aged fathers increase the risk. As expected, favourable family conditions play a relevant role in determining the pregnancy success.