Elderly primigravidae versus young primigravidae: a review of pregnancy outcome in a low resource setting.

Background: The elderly primigravida is defined as a woman who goes into pregnancy for the first time at the age of 35 years or older. Progressively, this has become more common in our contemporary society and traditionally such pregnancy is regarded as high risk.

Objective: This was to determine and compare the pregnancy outcomes in elderly primigravidae aged 35 years and above with those of young primigravidae aged 20-25 years

Methods: The pregnancy outcomes of 82 elderly primigravidae (study group) with a singleton gestation, who delivered in the Teaching Hospital from 1st July, 2005 to 30th June, 2010 were compared with those of 131 young primigravidae (control group) who delivered during the same period in the same hospital.