Why is it difficult to get pregnant when you are older?

Getting pregnant and having a baby is the most important thing in a woman's life. If a woman has difficulty getting pregnant due to external reasons or her own reasons, she will feel like a failure in her life. Therefore, many people who have difficulty getting pregnant undergo treatment in order to be able to conceive a baby. Sometimes women find it difficult to get pregnant when they are too old, and many people don’t know why. So, today let’s take a look at why it’s difficult to get pregnant when you’re older.

The miscarriage rate for women aged 25 is 10%, and 50% for women aged 40. The risk of no live birth is only 9.3% for women aged 25-29, and it rises to 63.5% when the age increases to 40-44. The reproductive process is mainly completed by women. The number of eggs in women is fixed from birth. By puberty, the average number of eggs in women is 400,000, which decreases month by month until it disappears completely during menopause. Of the 1,000 or so eggs that are produced each month, only one matures and provides a chance of conception, and the number of eggs will gradually decrease.

So it’s true! Infertility is associated with advanced age. Therefore, medically speaking, pregnancy at the age of over 35 can be called "advanced pregnancy". However, the risks of advanced-age pregnancy are not only reflected in the easy infertility, but also in the following 9 aspects:

1. The rate of spontaneous abortion increases. Chromosome abnormalities are more likely to occur in older pregnant women, especially in early pregnancy, when the incidence of spontaneous abortion increases significantly.

2. The premature birth rate increases. The intrauterine environment of older pregnant women is relatively poor, which is not conducive to the growth and development of the fetus. Abnormalities are prone to occur in the late pregnancy, leading to premature birth.

3. The rate of dystocia increases. When a woman is too old, the elasticity of the uterine cervix becomes poor, and the joints of the ischium, pubis, ilium and cuboid bones are basically ossified, forming a fixed pelvic cavity. Therefore, it is easy to cause delivery difficulties when the fetus is delivered, and it is very easy for the fetus to be retained in the uterus and cause fetal distress. In mild cases, it will affect the fetal heart and brain ischemia and hypoxia, and even lead to irreversible brain damage. In severe cases, it may cause fatal suffocation. Neonatal injuries are prone to occur during delivery; neonatal asphyxia is prone to occur; the incidence of fetal malformations increases.

4. Increased incidence of breast cancer. Data show that the incidence of breast cancer in women who give birth for the first time over the age of 35 is much higher than that in those who give birth for the first time before the age of 30, and the incidence increases with age.

5. The incidence of congenital dementia increases. After the age of 35, the maturation process of women's eggs is prolonged, and chromosomes are prone to aging, decay or deformation, resulting in the incidence of congenital dementia about 5 times that of normal people.

6. Hypertension and diabetes are prone to occur during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension are the main factors affecting the health of mother and child during pregnancy, and are currently two important factors that endanger the lives of mothers and children.

7. Slow recovery after childbirth. Studies have shown that after the age of 35, the older you are when you give birth, the slower your body recovers after childbirth.

8. Children born are weaker. Studies have shown that children born to older pregnant women, especially the first child, have relatively weaker immunity and a higher incidence of various diseases, such as leukemia.

9. Poor mental state: Women over 35 years old have a greater psychological burden when carrying a fetus than pregnant women of childbearing age. In addition, various social and family pressures can easily make them mentally tense, which is not conducive to their own health and the growth and development of the fetus.