Khaberni - A Finnish study has found that the number of children and the age at pregnancy affect a woman's health and lifespan.
The study, conducted by a research group from several institutions including the Finnish Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, the University of Helsinki, and published in the scientific journal "Nature Communications," involved 15,000 women and was conducted over several decades.
Participants in the study completed questionnaires in 1975, while researchers monitored their health status, number of births, and family size during that period until now.
The results revealed that women who had between two and three children and were pregnant between the ages of 24 and 38 lived longer and were healthier, whereas women who had four children or more lived shorter lives and experienced biological aging at a faster pace.
The study also found that women who had never had children also aged faster, and the researchers attributed this to health or lifestyle factors not covered by the research. The researchers relied on blood tests and changes in the DNA of the participants to determine their true biological ages.
The study confirmed previous research findings that suggest that having more children makes a woman biologically older compared to her actual age.
The website "Health Day," specializing in scientific research, quoted researchers involved in the study saying that these results do not prove a causal relationship between having more children and mortality, and under no circumstances should it be considered as a standard for making reproductive decisions in general.
