Link high infant, mother death risk to young or old maternal age, close childspacing, poor nutrition.

An analysis of more than 60 studies from all parts of the world by Dorothy Nortman of the Population Council found that maternal age is a central variable affecting pregnancy outcome. While socioeconomic factors affect level of risk, these with maternal age regardless of level of health care. Wishik and Lichtblau, Columbia University, list maternal age, child spacing, and level of maternal nutrition in their study of maternal mortality, fetal mortality, stillbirths, he age at which the maternal death risk is lowest for the 1st birth is under 20 but the age at which infant death is lowest for 1st births is 26. are in better socioeconomic circumstances and are better equipped to protect the child from environmental hazards. Mothers 20-24 had the lowest rate of abnormally low birth weight children. Down's ears than in teenage mothers. The pattern is not as conclusive for other congenital malformations but U.S. data 1961-1969 indicate incidence slowly increases with maternal age for each th order. Restricting births to ages 20-34 would reduce maternal mortality by 19% in Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, and the U.S., by 23% in Colombia and France, and by 25% in the Philippines. at least 21 years at 1st birth the child had a 90% probability of being in the higher nutritional group, compared with 55% if the mother were 16. Birth intervals of 2 1/2 years gave ildren a 90% chance of being nutritionally healthy but a birth interval shortened by only 4 1/2 months dropped the chances to 50%. 2 1/2 years may be required between births to permit full physiological readjustment for the mother and adiness for another pregnancy.