Is It Too Risky for Older Women to Have Babies?
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: One of the big questions this hour that we're exploring, is it too risky for older women to have babies? Well, this morning a new study suggests the decision to wait could put their babies at risk. The study analyzed births in Alberta, Canada and found that in 1990 less than 10 percent of infants were born to women over the age of 35. Now, this is where everything changed. By the year 2000, that number had actually doubled. In the U.S., 13 percent of births in the year 2000 were to women 35 or older, up from 8.9 percent in 1990 and 4.5 percent in 1980. So, why are women waiting and what are the risks they and their babies face? Dr. Suzanne Tough led the Canadian study. She joins us now from Alberta this morning. Also with us, Michelle Giuisana, who gave birth to her daughter two and a half years ago when she was in her early '40s. She joins us from Buffalo this morning. Welcome to both of you. Glad to have you with us.</s>MICHELLE GIUISANA, MOTHER: Good morning.</s>DR. SUZANNE TOUGH, ALBERTA CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Good morning.</s>ZAHN: So, Dr. Tough, we just shared some of the statistics about the age of women giving birth and how dramatically that has changed over the last 10 years. What seems to be the main reason why they're putting off having babies?</s>TOUGH: Well, from focus group work that we've done with women, they tell you that they're waiting for a number of reasons. One, they're waiting to finish their education. They're waiting until they have a career established. They're waiting until they've done some traveling, often. And, importantly, they're also waiting until they have a relationship that they feel comfortable in.</s>ZAHN: You also explored the risks that women over the age of 35 face and we're going to put some of those risks up on the screen now. Among them, an increased risk of birth, premature birth and multiple births.</s>TOUGH: Exactly.</s>ZAHN: According to your study, babies born to women over the age of 35 are 20 to 40 percent more likely than the general population to have low birth weight babies, 20 percent more likely to have premature babies, 20 percent more likely to have twins or triplets. You want to add anything to that?</s>TOUGH: No, that's exactly right. They are more at risk of having a baby that's of low birth weight and preterm, or preterm delivery. And these babies are more likely to end up requiring some kind of intensive care or special care after they're born.</s>ZAHN: And what are some of the birth defects that parents should be aware of by putting off having children?</s>TOUGH: Well, I don't know that we're looking specifically at birth defects. And that's not what this study looked at. What we do know, though, is that children that are lower birth weight are more likely to have problems after they're discharged from the hospital, as well. So these children are more likely to have to go back to the hospital for a checkup or to see their family physician more frequently. They're also more likely to require special assistance at school, whether it's speech and language pathology, whether it's phys- ed skills and motor delay or whether it's even delay in social aptitude.</s>ZAHN: Michelle, let's talk about your situation. When did you have your baby? At what age?</s>GIUISANA: I was 42 years old, almost 43.</s>ZAHN: And how concerned were you about having a baby at that late stage of your life?</s>GIUISANA: Well, I think I was concerned but primarily with my ability to become pregnant. We had had a lot of attempts, worked with a lot of fertility doctors and it did not look like it was ever going to happen. When I did become pregnant, I think we were so happy to be pregnant we weren't really concerned about risks during pregnancy or during labor.</s>ZAHN: And how did you do?</s>GIUISANA: Well, as it turns out my baby was born late. I was showing no signs of going into labor. The baby was becoming non- responsive. When that happened, they tried to induce me. There was a lot of difficulties inducing me. When I went into labor, my blood pressure went up very high, was spiking into stroke range. They took my husband aside and told me to be prepared for the worst.</s>ZAHN: So I guess it's pretty easy for us all to understand why you call your baby your miracle daughter.</s>GIUISANA: Absolutely. Fortunately they were able to give me an epidural and my blood pressure went down. And both my daughter and I are doing very well. But it could have been very scary.</s>ZAHN: Michelle, I know you talked about your concerns about your ability to actually conceive at that age. How well aware were you of some of the potential birth defects your daughter might carry if she followed some of these statistics?</s>GIUISANA: Well, I think the only one I was really aware of was the risk of Down's Syndrome and we had an amnio to see how she was doing and she was doing great. So we actually felt that things were going to go very well for us.</s>ZAHN: Dr. Tough, a final word of advice this morning for women in this country who are thinking about having children now at the ripe old age of 35 plus?</s>TOUGH: Well, I think my final word would be that the idea is that women have as much information as possible so that they can make the decision that's right for them, so that they're aware and they talk to their health care provider and they can best understand what they want, what actions they want to take for their life.</s>ZAHN: Well, Dr. Tough, I appreciate your coming on to help us better understand your study. And Michelle Giuisana, congratulations to you and thank you for getting up this early to join us this morning.</s>GIUISANA: Thank you.</s>TOUGH: Thanks so much.</s>ZAHN: Good luck to both of you.</s>GIUISANA: Thank you.