TONIGHT’S JACKPOT
CITY OF SAVERS TORONTONIANS PUTTING AWAY CASH FOR RAINY DAY {page 2}
$20
DRIVER GOSLING PLAYS THE
STRONG, SILENT TYPE IN THIS THRILLER {page 25}
TORONTO
Weekend, September 16-18, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Age bumps up birth risk A study of 1M Canadian hospital births shows marked increase of risks associated with advanced maternal age
Monica Bonczak, 23, of Toronto, keeps her eyes on the ball during a workout with the Toronto Triumph of the Lingerie Football League. BERNARD WEIL/TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Gridiron Girls: Stay for the football
The Toronto Triumph, the newest expansion team in the U.S.-based Lingerie Football League, play their first game Saturday at Ricoh Coliseum against the Tampa Breeze. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. Story, page 4.
At 38, Nicole Dowling is part of a growing demographic. She’s a first-time mother who experienced a few bumps on the road to parenthood. The largest Canadian study ever done on risks associated with advanced maternal age, released Thursday, examined more than one million hospital births from 2006 to 2009 to measure the impact that advanced maternal age can have on both mothers and their babies. Almost one in every five births is to a mother over 35, an age when risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth start increasing. Risks rise significantly after age 40, the study noted. Three weeks ago, Dowling gave birth to a son after 12 weeks on bedrest to prevent a premature delivery and then had a Caesarian section.
Why age matters Some findings of the Canadian Institute for Health Information study, In Due Time: Why Maternal Age Matters: Half of all first-time mothers age 40 and older have Caesarean sections, compared to 41.3 per cent age 35 to 39 and 27.1 per cent for those age 20 to 34. The risk of delivering prematurely (before the 37th week
The proportion of women 35 and older having babies is highest in Toronto, where 31.5 per cent of all births are to women in this age group. The national average is almost 20 per cent, up from 15 per cent just five years ago. “Overall, we find that older moms are more likely to
of pregnancy) is one in 11 in the 35-to-39 age group and one in nine in the 40-andolder group, compared to only one in 13 babies among mothers age 20 to 34. One out of every 127 babies born to a mother age 40 and older had chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome, compared with one out of 370 babies born to mothers 35 to 39 and one out of 1,000 babies whose mothers were 20 to 34.
live in urban centres. They are more likely to be in a higher socio-economic status and have higher levels of education,” explained Kathleen Morris, director of health system analysis with the Canadian Institute for Health Information. TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE