Abstract
The various health risks associated with the increasing age of mothers at childbirth include the low birth weight of new-born children. The aim of the article is to verify the relationship between the birth weight of new-born children and the age of mothers at childbirth employing data on new-born children from the General Health Insurance Company of the Czech Republic.
The data also allow take into consideration other characteristics such as the gender of the child, the frequency of childbirth, complications during hospitalisation and the type of conception (spontaneous or following IVF treatment). It was found that the proportion of new-born children with birthweights of 2500+ g exceeded 93% for women aged 25-39 and that the proportion is only slightly lower for women aged 40 and over.
The lowest proportion (less than 88 %) was determined for women below the age of 20, while the proportion for women aged 20-24 years stood at 92 %. No relationship was proved between a higher proportion of children born with low weights and the higher age of women with respect either to single or multiple births.
However, the research did reveal the significantly higher proportion of children from single births with lower birth weights most likely born following IVF treatment. Moreover, the proportion of new-born children hospitalised due to health complications increases with the increasing age of mothers at childbirth with respect to both normal and lower birth weights.