Vascular limb defects and maternal age

Background: The prenatal diagnosis procedure chorionic villus sampling is associated with increased risk of vascular disruption limb defects. Some studies have suggested that these defects are more common among infants born to women 35 years and older while other studies have shown a correlation with younger mothers.

Methods: All infants with vascular disruption defects were identified in the Active Malformations Surveillance Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the years 1972-1974, 1979-2011. We compared the rate of occurrence of infants with vascular limb defects among women in theses age groups: ≤19, 20 to 34, and ≥35 years to the rate of occurrence of infants with preaxial polydactyly, adjusting for race. Infants with an identifiable cause of their defects were excluded.

Results: 106 infants with vascular disruption defects and 67 with preaxial polydactyly were identified. Seventeen percent of the infants with vascular disruption defects and 25% of the infants with preaxial polydactyly were born to women 35 and older (p = 0.23). In contrast, 16% of the infants with vascular disruption defects were born to young mothers (≤19 years) compared with 6.0% of the mothers of infants with preaxial polydactyly (adjusted odds ratio vs. 35+ years = 5.3, 95% confidence interval 1.4-21, p = 0.017).

Conclusion: Women 35 years old or older did not have increased risk for having a child with vascular disruption defects, but these defects were more common among infants of young (≤19) mothers, compared with the preaxial polydactyly group.