Maternal age and the risk of fetal aneuploidy: A nationwide cohort study of more than 500 000 singleton pregnancies in Denmark from 2008 to 2017.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Nationwide registry-based cohort study
PubMed 37986093 · doi:10.1111/aogs.14713
What was done
A nationwide register-based cohort study followed 542,375 singleton-pregnant women attending first-trimester screening in Denmark from 2008 to 2017 until delivery, miscarriage, or termination of pregnancy. Participants were evaluated across six maternal age categories. Genetically confirmed fetal and infant aneuploidies (trisomies 21, 18, 13, triploidy, monosomy X, and other sex chromosome aberrations) were identified through the national cytogenetic register, with secondary analyses assessing the impact of translocation trisomies and mosaicisms.
What was found
The abstract provides qualitative directions without numerical risk estimates or effect sizes. Advanced maternal age (specifically age 35 years and older) was associated with increased risk of trisomies 21, 18, and 13, as well as other sex chromosome aberrations. No age-related associations were found for triploidy or monosomy X. Translocation trisomies and mosaicisms did not alter the overall associations.
Why it matters
This nationwide study confirms at population scale which specific aneuploidies track with advancing maternal age, clarifying that triploidy and monosomy X risks do not increase with maternal age.
Limits
The abstract provides no numerical figures, incidence rates, odds ratios, or confidence intervals. The cohort only included singleton pregnancies surviving to first-trimester screening in Denmark, excluding early unscreened miscarriages and potentially limiting applicability to different demographics.
Cited by
- supports Advanced maternal age is an established risk factor for Down syndrome in offspring.