Older mothers 'five times more likely to suffer from depression' - Older mothers are five times more likely to suffer from depression after childbirth because of the anxiety they go through during pregnancy, a study suggests.
Women are increasingly giving birth later on in life
Women in their late thirties and early forties who have recently given birth are more likely to be depressed than younger mothers.
This could be down to the higher levels of stress older women go through during pregnancy due to concerns about their and their baby's health, it was claimed.
Giulia Muraca, a PHD student at the University of British Columbia, said: "Anxiety during pregnancy has been found to be one of the strongest predictors of depression after childbirth.
"There is a lot of rhetoric talking about the biological risk, and that is really discomforting for women in that age group.
"We found that women [who have recently given birth] aged 40-44 have almost five times the odds of experiencing depression than women at younger age groups."
Presenting her findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Ms Muraca said that aside from health issues, worries about going on maternity leave or returning to work after childbirth could have caused more anxiety among older women.
Women who give birth at older ages also have less support and feel more alone because fewer of their friends are going through the same experience, she added.
Women are increasingly giving birth later on in life, with the number of babies born to 40 to 44 year olds in England and Wales rising from 9,220 to 25,973 between 1990 and 2010, according to Office for National Statistics figures.
The number of 35 to 39-year-olds having children increased from 51,905 to 115,841 during the same period.
Ms Muraca studied data on 8,000 Canadian women who answered a national health survey within five years of giving birth.
Across all age groups almost one in ten of the women had suffered depression, diagnosed from their answers to a survey, at some point after their child was born.
The study showed that the chance of becoming depressed after childbirth decreases steadily until the mid to late 30s and then rises dramatically.
Women who were aged 40 to 44 at the time of the survey were five times more likely to have been depressed than those aged 35 to 39, after taking factors like wealth and marital status into account.
Because some women answered the survey up to five years after pregnancy, the older group could have given birth at any point from 35 to 44 and the younger group between 30 and 39.
Comparative figures showed much less contrast in depression rates among women who had not recently given birth.
The findings appear to contradict a separate study published in November, which showed no increase in rates of depression among older women during the first four months after birth.
Ms Muraca admitted the higher likelihood of older women having used IVF treatment and had multiple births could have influenced her findings, but said this could not be the only factor.
She said: "At this point it is something that needs to be explored further before we can think of any implications with respect to practice or public health.
"But it is hugely exciting because it points to a potential high risk population that is growing, and has been for the past two decades.
"We need to be able to council women and raise awareness of what the psychological consequences may be of birth timing." ( telegraph.co.uk )
Women are increasingly giving birth later on in life
Women in their late thirties and early forties who have recently given birth are more likely to be depressed than younger mothers.
This could be down to the higher levels of stress older women go through during pregnancy due to concerns about their and their baby's health, it was claimed.
Giulia Muraca, a PHD student at the University of British Columbia, said: "Anxiety during pregnancy has been found to be one of the strongest predictors of depression after childbirth.
"There is a lot of rhetoric talking about the biological risk, and that is really discomforting for women in that age group.
"We found that women [who have recently given birth] aged 40-44 have almost five times the odds of experiencing depression than women at younger age groups."
Presenting her findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Ms Muraca said that aside from health issues, worries about going on maternity leave or returning to work after childbirth could have caused more anxiety among older women.
Women who give birth at older ages also have less support and feel more alone because fewer of their friends are going through the same experience, she added.
Women are increasingly giving birth later on in life, with the number of babies born to 40 to 44 year olds in England and Wales rising from 9,220 to 25,973 between 1990 and 2010, according to Office for National Statistics figures.
The number of 35 to 39-year-olds having children increased from 51,905 to 115,841 during the same period.
Ms Muraca studied data on 8,000 Canadian women who answered a national health survey within five years of giving birth.
Across all age groups almost one in ten of the women had suffered depression, diagnosed from their answers to a survey, at some point after their child was born.
The study showed that the chance of becoming depressed after childbirth decreases steadily until the mid to late 30s and then rises dramatically.
Women who were aged 40 to 44 at the time of the survey were five times more likely to have been depressed than those aged 35 to 39, after taking factors like wealth and marital status into account.
Because some women answered the survey up to five years after pregnancy, the older group could have given birth at any point from 35 to 44 and the younger group between 30 and 39.
Comparative figures showed much less contrast in depression rates among women who had not recently given birth.
The findings appear to contradict a separate study published in November, which showed no increase in rates of depression among older women during the first four months after birth.
Ms Muraca admitted the higher likelihood of older women having used IVF treatment and had multiple births could have influenced her findings, but said this could not be the only factor.
She said: "At this point it is something that needs to be explored further before we can think of any implications with respect to practice or public health.
"But it is hugely exciting because it points to a potential high risk population that is growing, and has been for the past two decades.
"We need to be able to council women and raise awareness of what the psychological consequences may be of birth timing." ( telegraph.co.uk )
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