First Birth Age and Women's Midyear Metabolic Risks

Daum Kim , Seoul National University
Youngtae Cho, Seoul National University

Having the lowest low fertility rate in the world that below 1.0 South Korea has been experiencing rapid social demographic changes yet there has been little known about its impacts. Delaying childbirth not only means childbearing period can be shortened but also indicates that the timing of the first child birth is deferred. Some researches uncover the impact of delayed first childbearing age in relation to maternal and infant health, yet they primarily focus on child-maternal care rather than see women's health. This studies therefore tried to analise whether the age at first birth has impact on women's health condition, particularly in midlife. This study analyses the mentioned relationship using data from Korean Cancer Prevention Study (KCPS). Women became age 50 in year 1992 to 2005 were drawn (n=79,478, mean age 25, median age 25). The main exposure was having experienced childbirth and the outcome was status having 3 risks out of 4 (high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity). Logistic regression was applied and the coefficient was -0.3238 (0.0263). Yet since metabolic-related risk can be increasing as getting aged, we then carried out predicted probability model design using the same regression but in quadratic form and it shows the risk will be decreasing from age 15 to 31-32 then it bounces to increase up to age 49. This study suggests since delaying age at first birth has not been adjusted by external reasons, this trend and likelihood need to be considered for furthering healthcare service.

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 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality