Genetic problems caused by old age birth
With the development of society and the progress of medical technology, more and more women choose to postpone the childbearing age. However, the elderly childbearing has also caused a series of genetic problems. This article will elaborate on the genetic problems caused by old age childbirth from the aspects of hereditary diseases, chromosome abnormalities, intergenerational heredity of pregnant women and multiple pregnancy, and explore ways to avoid these problems.
Hereditary disease
One of the main risks of the elderly parturients' childbirth is the transmission of genetic diseases. With the growth of women's age, the ovarian function gradually declines, and the egg quality will also decline. This may lead to an increase in the rate of gene mutation in the egg, thus increasing the risk of genetic diseases. For example, the incidence of some hereditary congenital heart disease, congenital mental retardation, body odor and other diseases has increased significantly in the elderly.
To avoid the risk of hereditary diseases, elderly mothers can carry out genetic counseling and genetic testing before pregnancy to understand their own and partner's genetic status. If genetic risks are found, you can choose to obtain embryos through assisted reproductive technology, conduct genetic screening, and screen out embryo transfer with normal genes.
In addition, older women should also follow a healthy lifestyle, including balanced diet, moderate exercise, and avoiding exposure to harmful substances, so as to reduce the risk of genetic diseases.
Chromosomal abnormality
Another common problem in the fertility of elderly mothers is chromosomal abnormalities, especially the incidence of Down syndrome (trisomy 21 syndrome). This is because the decline in egg quality will lead to chromosome separation errors, which will cause chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo.
In order to avoid the genetic problems caused by chromosome abnormalities, the elderly mothers can choose to carry out non-invasive prenatal gene testing (NIPT) to screen chromosome abnormalities by detecting the fetal free DNA in the maternal blood. If the chromosome abnormality is confirmed through NIPT screening, the pregnant woman can choose to terminate the pregnancy or conduct further prenatal testing and diagnosis.
In addition, the elderly parturients can also consider the embryo chromosome screening (PGS) in assisted reproductive technology to screen healthy embryo transfer and reduce the occurrence of chromosome abnormalities through gene testing of embryos.
Intergenerational inheritance of pregnant and lying in women
The elderly childbearing of pregnant women may also lead to intergenerational genetic problems. If a pregnant woman carries a gene mutation of some hereditary disease, even if she does not show any disease, she may also inherit this mutation to the next generation.
In order to avoid intergenerational genetic problems, pregnant women can conduct gene testing before pregnancy to understand their own and family genetic status. If gene mutation with hereditary disease is found, embryo transfer with normal gene can be screened through assisted reproductive technology to avoid passing the mutation to the next generation.
In addition, kinship marriage is also an important factor in intergenerational genetic problems. If there is kinship marriage in the elderly parturient, because close marriage will increase the risk of carrying the same recessive genetic disease mutation, so kinship marriage should be avoided as far as possible.
Multiple pregnancy
Elderly childbearing is often accompanied by the increase of multiple pregnancies. There is a certain correlation between multiple births and elderly childbearing, because the ovarian function of elderly women declines, the ovulation cycle is unstable, and multiple eggs are prone to be fertilized at the same time.
Multiple pregnancy will increase the risk of pregnant women and fetuses, such as premature delivery, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation, etc. In order to avoid the genetic problems caused by multiple pregnancy, the elderly women can choose to use artificial assisted reproduction technology to control the number of pregnant embryos through single embryo transfer.
In addition, the elderly pregnant women should receive regular prenatal examination during pregnancy, follow the doctor's advice, and maintain good pregnancy management to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancy.
Conclusion: The genetic problems brought about by old age childbirth mainly include hereditary diseases, chromosome abnormalities, intergenerational inheritance of pregnant and lying in women, multiple pregnancy, etc. In order to avoid these problems, the elderly women can take measures such as gene testing, assisted reproductive technology screening healthy embryos, non-invasive prenatal gene testing and single embryo transfer. At the same time, healthy lifestyle and regular prenatal examination are also important means to reduce genetic problems.
