Pregnancies later in life linked to disease risk
Women who become pregnant later in life are at greater risk than younger new mothers of a condition that can cause cancer.
Pregnant women older than 40 are five times more likely than those aged between 20 and 40 to develop an abnormal tissue growth in the placenta. Pregnant teenagers are twice as likely.
The condition is known as hydatidiform mole, said Annie Cheung Nga-yin, associate professor of pathology at the University of Hong Kong. The condition affects four in 1,000 mothers-to-be in Hong Kong.
Chinese women are especially prone, with the rate of incidence in Hong Kong more than double that in some western countries.
Hydatidiform mole is caused by the growth of an abnormal fertilised egg or overgrowth of tissue in the placenta. Almost 80 per cent of the cases are not cancerous and disappear by themselves.
About 20 per cent invade the surrounding tissue and about 4 per cent become cancerous and spread throughout the body.
Dr Cheung said early diagnosis was important and the condition could be indicated by abnormal bleeding that some women might mistake for a miscarriage.
'In the most severe cases, women with hydatidiform mole need follow-up treatments such as chemotherapy.'
The median age of women having their first baby in Hong Kong was 29.4 in 2003, compared with 28.2 in 1993 and 25.6 in 1983.
Incidence of the condition in Hong Kong is more than double the rates in the United States and Australia which are respectively 1.1 and 1.8 per 1,000 pregnancies.
Dr Cheung said Chinese women were genetically at a higher risk of developing the disease than Caucasians. The rate in Indonesian women is about 10 in every 1,000 pregnancies.
