This team from the University of British Columbia answers for the first time a question often asked by women of childbearing age and Women's Health professionals: is there a particular time limit to respect between 2 pregnancies to reduce health risks for mother and baby? The conclusions, presented in JAMA Internal Medicine, support a delay of 12 to 18 months between childbirth and a new pregnancy, with levels of risk, for the mother and the child, which however differ according to age. from the mother. For the first time, (future) mothers and clinicians have precise data to plan births as well as possible.
Researchers from British Columbia (Canada) and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (Boston) show that “getting pregnant” less than 12 months after childbirth is associated with risks for women of all ages. The risks for the mother concern only women aged over 35, the risks for the infant all women, and especially women aged 20 to 34 years.
Overall, the study reveals an increased risk for mother and baby when pregnancies are closely spaced, especially in women over 35, summarizes the lead author, Laura Schummers, who conducted this study in the of her Harvard thesis: “ The findings for older women are particularly important because older women tend to bring their pregnancies closer together intentionally .”
The study offers the most comprehensive assessment of how maternal age may mediate the effects of pregnancy spacing. It is also the first survey on the impact of pregnancy spacing on maternal mortality or morbidity. The researchers looked at data on 148,544 pregnancies. Analysis of this data shows that:
- women aged over 35 who gave birth 6 months after a previous birth present a risk of severe maternal mortality or morbidity of 1.2%, or 12 cases per 1,000 pregnancies;
- women aged over 35 who gave birth at least 18 months after a previous birth have a reduced risk of 0.5%, or 5 cases per 1,000 pregnancies;
- younger women who gave birth 6 months after a previous birth have an 8.5% risk - or 85 cases per 1,000 pregnancies - of spontaneous preterm birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy);
- younger women who gave birth at least 18 months after a previous birth see the risk of prematurity reduced to 3.7%, or 37 cases per 1,000 pregnancies;
- in older women, the risk of spontaneous preterm birth is around 6% or 60 cases per 1,000 pregnancies in the event of deliveries spaced less than 6 months apart, vs 3.4% or 34 cases per 1,000 pregnancies, in the event of deliveries spaced at least 18 months apart.
Thus, these results suggest different risk profiles for each age group . The researchers suggest that however, regardless of age, the increased risk could simply be related to the body not having time to recover or related to factors associated with unplanned pregnancies, such as medical care. insufficient prenatals.
Wait 1 year between 2 pregnancies: finally, for the first time, mothers have more precise data to better plan their pregnancies: respecting this optimal interval of one year clearly reduces the risk of complications.
