Study reveals that older mothers have healthier, taller and more educated children

It seems that having children at an older age is something that privileges not only mothers but their children as well. A European study just published in the journal Population and Development Review concluded that women who delayed pregnancy – even past age 40 – had taller children, with better grades in high school and more chances of getting into university.

The study took into account data from 1.5 million Swiss men and women born between 1960 and 1991. For the researchers involved, the results seem to relate to industrialized countries, where public health and social conditions are improving and educational opportunities are increasing . “Previous research has ignored the importance of these large-scale changes over time,” they say. But what about the consensus among the medical community that the older the mother, the greater the risks for children (who would be more prone to genetic errors and diseases such as hypertension and diabetes)? The new study also raises this question, but suggests that these risks are “counterbalanced or compensated” by the positive changes that take place in society until the child is born, that is, in the years when the mother delays pregnancy.

The analysis also compared those born to the same parents and those who grew up in the same family environment. “Under these conditions, it was possible to focus on the importance of maternal age at birth, regardless of the influence of other factors that could distort the results”, explains Kieron Barclay, one of the leaders of the study.