Women who naturally conceive their last child after age 33 tend to live longer than those who have their final child by age 29, according to a new study by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine.
The study published on Wednesday in the journal Menopause, looked at the data from 462 women who were part of The Long Life Family Study, which included families with members who had lived long lives. The researchers compared the ages at which these women had their last child and how long they lived. Those who got pregnant naturally and successfully birthed their last child after age 33 were twice as likely to live to age 95 compared to those who had their last child by age 29.
This may be because gene variations that enable women to have babies at a later age may also be tied to living longer lives, the Boston University School of Medicine researchers said.
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“If a woman has those variants, she is able to reproduce and bear children for a longer period of time, increasing her chances of passing down those genes to the next generation,” study co-author Dr. Thomas Perls, a professor of medicine at BU, said in a medical center news release.
Read the full, original story: Giving birth late can increase a woman’s lifespan
