英國一助產士稱高齡產婦的風險並不大

Health experts should stop 'terrifying' older women about the risks of having babies, Britain's top midwife has said.

英國一位頂級助產士日前表示，健康專家應該停止恐嚇高齡女性生孩子的風險。

Professor Cathy Warwick, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said experts had overstated the problems attached to age.

皇家助產士學院首席執行官凱西·沃裏克教授稱，專家們誇大了年齡的問題。

The number of older mothers has soared in recent decades, as more women concentrate on their career first.

近幾十年來，隨着越來越多的女性首先關注自己的事業，導致高齡產婦的數量飆升。

Women now have their first child five years later on average than they did 47 years ago. The average age of first-time motherhood in England and Wales is 28.6, up from 23.5 in 1970.

相比47年前，如今女性擁有第一個孩子的平均年齡遲了五年。相比1970年23.5歲，英國和威爾士頭胎母親的平均年齡上升到了28.6歲。

And the proportion of over-40s mothers has trebled in three decades, from 4.9 per 1,000 in 1984 to 14.7 per 1,000 in 2014.

三十年來，40歲以上的母親的比例從1984年的千分之四點九上升到了2014年的千分之十四點七。

Doctors tend to warn women not to leave it too late – stressing that with age fertility drops, the chance of complications increases, and the chance of birth defects also rises.

醫生傾向於警告婦女不要太晚生育--強調年齡會讓生育率下降，併發症機會增加，先天畸形機率也會上升。

But Professor Warwick said the risks were being overplayed.

但是沃裏克教授稱，這些風險被誇大了。

'Even if you have your baby at 42 or 45, it's a relatively small increase in risk to you if you're otherwise healthy,' she told The Sunday Telegraph. 'I'm not sure why we're quite so worried about the age issue and I'm not sure we should be terrifying women about it.'

她向《星期日電訊報》透露：“除非你不健康，否則即便你的身體42歲或者45歲了，風險的增加也相對較小。我不明白爲什麼我們如此擔心年齡問題，我不確定我們是否應該爲此恐嚇婦女。”