Genetic Profile Enables Women Over 45 To Conceive Naturally
Are Genes Linked To Conception?
A team from Israel's Hadassah University Hospital believes they have isolated genes in eight Ashkenazi women who had babies naturally later in life.
The researchers believe the genes might help slow ageing of the ovaries. They are play a role in cell death and DNA repair.
It is hoped that these learning might help to treat older women going for fertility treatment.
They studied a group of 250 women aged 45 and older who conceived naturally, taking blood samples for genetic analysis.
Their results were compared with samples from six women of the same age who stopped having children at the age of thirty.
The eight women displayed unique genetic profiles, protecting them from DNA damage and cellular ageing, that helps to age the ovary.
Motherhood over the age of 45 is a delicate and complex and topical issue. The number of women having children in their 30s and 40s has increased sharply over the last 20 years.
There were 621,469 live births in England and Wales in 2003, 4.3% up on 2002.
The largest increases were recorded in women aged 35-39 and 40 and over. They showed change over seven percent.
The average age of pregnancy is now 29.4 years, and for first time mothers it is 27.4 years, according to the Office of National Statistics.
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