The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Postponing pregnancy has its own risks Health and Lifestyle

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Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Postponing pregnancy has its own risks Health and Lifestyle

R. Sujatha

Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Changes in lifestyle and lack of exercise affect reproductive health. —

CHENNAI: The flip side of the changing role of women as earning members is that many young women postpone raising a family until they feel they have settled down. Due to this there is a steady rise in the number of women reporting infertility, say doctors.

Gynaecologists feel that women who hold jobs with erratic timings and those that demand frequent travel find it hard to manage both, a family and a budding career. Such women invariably tend to postpone pregnancy. But the number of women who visit gynaecologists with a variety of complaints, some of which could cause infertility, is also increasing.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome, obesity and irregular menstrual cycles are some commonly reported complaints. Sometimes, stress could cause irregular menstrual cycle. Changes in lifestyle among the younger generation, eating junk food and lack of exercise have also impacted reproductive health. Gynaecologists advise lifestyle changes and sometimes medication to regularise menstrual cycle.

Birth control pills

The use of birth control pills has also impacted the way young women view pregnancy, say doctors. Young girls come to us for advice about the use of birth control pills when their marriage is finalised, says Hebzibah Kirubamani, head of Raja Sir Ramaswamy Mudaliar maternity hospital in north Chennai.

Middle class women take the lead in seeking medical advice on postponing childbirth, but government hospitals have also actively encouraged young women who seek the hospital’s services to opt for other control methods. Independent studies by non-government organisations have found that such decisions have contributed to health problems.

An article in the January 2008 issue of ‘Update,’ an in-house magazine brought out by GG Hospital, working in the field of infertility, says postponing the first child beyond the age of 35 could result in higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities. Women prone to diabetes and hypertension expose themselves to more complications, says the article.

The hospital recently launched frozen oocyte pregnancy, using which method less than 100 babies have been born across the world since 1986. The hospital has launched this method for the benefit of women who wish to delay marriage and childbearing, single mothers and divorcees.

The Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to which the Women and Children’s Hospital is attached has sought permission to set up an assisted reproductive technology (ART) centre. For many years now the hospital has been providing the intra-uterine insemination option, a relatively common procedure.

“But we perform the procedure in fewer women now. Many of our patients need only counselling,” says head K. Saraswathi. Introducing ART would help women who have problems in conceiving but do not have the money to seek medical help in private hospitals, she says.

Despite modern medical methods doctors say it is better not to postpone childbirth beyond 30 since it affects the intrauterine growth of the child.

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