Introduction
Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in the average age
of women becoming pregnant with their first and subsequent pregnancies
observed in developed countries, including Poland. According to the data
presented by Eurostat in Poland, the highest fertility of women in the
age group of 20-24 years moved in 1995 to the group of 25-29 years in
2015. The median age of all women giving birth increased from 26.9 years
in 2005 to 29.2 in 2015 and women giving birth to the first child from
23.7 years in 2005 to 27 in 2015. A similar tendency occurs in many
European countries, as illustrated in Figure 1. The reason for this
phenomenon is very complex. It consists of social, cultural, economic
and demographic factors [1]. People postpone reproduction to a later
stage of life to pursue educational goals, professional development and
financial stabilization [2-5]. Many women admit that the lack of a
suitable partner is the main reason for late motherhood [6, 7].
According to current data, advanced maternal age is associated with an
increased risk of some of the complications of pregnancy and childbirth
[8-11]. Most frequently, these complications are associated with
comorbidities, the incidence of which also increases with age. However,
despite numerous studies on the subject since the 80s of the last
century, maternal age has not been validated as an independent risk
factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes [12-16]. The
available literature mainly concerns Western European, Asian, Australian
and North American populations. There is a lack of studies examining
Central European, including Polish, population. As a result of different
socioeconomic factors and ethnic structure as well as different
healthcare policies, it could be possible that there are differences in
the influence of maternal age on the incidence of peripartum
complications.