Association between maternal age and adverse perinatal outcomes in Arba Minch zuria, and Gacho Baba district, southern Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

Background Globally, delayed childbearing to the advanced age is a growing option. It is an emerging public health issue in developing countries. Currently, adverse perinatal outcomes significantly increased. A few studies showed the effect of advanced maternal age on adverse perinatal outcomes. However, most used secondary data or chart reviews, and this increases the risk of biases. Besides, there are limited studies in-country Ethiopia as advanced maternal age steadily increased. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the status of advanced maternal age and its effect on perinatal outcomes in the study setting. Methods A community-based prospective cohort study was conducted among 709 study participants from October 15, 2018, to September 30, 2019, in Arba Minch zuria, and Gacho Baba district, southern Ethiopia. The data were collected by a pretested interviewer-administered structured Open Data Kit survey tool and analyzed by SPSS version 25. The log-linear regression model was used to compare perinatal outcomes among women aged 20–34 years and ≥ 35 years. The log-likelihood ratio tested for the goodness of fit. In this study, P-value < 0.05 was considered to declare a result as a statistically significant association. Results In this study, 209(29.5%) of the women were age group ≥35 years old, and 500(70.5%) were age group from20–34 years old. Stillbirth (β = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.05, 0.52), and neonatal mortality (β = 0.11, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.21) were significantly associated with the advanced maternal age. Conclusions Perinatal outcomes such as stillbirth and neonatal mortality were independently associated with advanced maternal age after controlling for possible cofounders. Therefore, different strategies should design for the women who planned to bear child, and information should provide for women who are advanced age or delayed childbearing to alert them.


Some background information's and identifications of eligible women
How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 303 In the past four weeks, were you or any household member not able to eat the kinds of foods you preferred because of a lack of resources?
a. Yes b.
No 305   304 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 305 In the past four weeks, did you or any household member have to eat a limited variety of foods due to a lack of resources? a. Yes b. No 307 306 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 307 In the past four weeks, did you or any household member have to eat some foods that you really did not want to eat because of a lack of resources to obtain other types of food?
a. Yes b. No 309 308 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 309 In the past four weeks, did you or any household member have to eat a smaller meal than you felt you needed because there was not enough food?
a. Yes b. No 310 310 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 311 In the past four weeks, did you or any other household member have to eat fewer meals in a day because there was not enough food?
a. Yes b. No 312 312 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 313 In the past four weeks, was there ever no food to eat of any kind in your household because of lack of resources to get food?
a. Yes b.
No 314   314 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 315 In the past four weeks, did you or any household member go to sleep at night hungry because there was not enough food?
a. Yes b.
No 317   316 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks) 317 In the past four weeks, did you or any household member go a whole day and night without eating anything because there was not enough food?
a. Yes b. No 401 318 How often did this happen? a. Rarely (once or twice in the past four weeks) b. Sometimes (three to ten times in the past four weeks) c. Often (more than ten times in the past four weeks)