Objective To estimate the association between maternal age and fetal death (spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth), taking into account a woman's reproductive history. Design Prospective register linkage study. Subjects All women with a reproductive outcome (live birth, stillbirth, spontaneous abortion leading to admission to hospital, induced abortion, ectopic pregnancy, or hydatidiform mole) in Denmark from 1978 to 1992; a total of 634 272 women and 1 221 546 pregnancy outcomes. Main outcome measures Age related risk of fetal loss, ectopic pregnancy, and stillbirth, and age related risk of spontaneous abortion stratified according to parity and previous spontaneous abortions. Results Overall, 13.5% of the pregnancies intended to be carried to term ended with fetal loss. At age 42 years, more than half of such pregnancies resulted in fetal loss. The risk of a spontaneous abortion was 8.9% in women aged 20-24 years and 74.7% in those aged 45 years or more. High maternal age was a significant risk factor for spontaneous abortion irrespective of the number of previous miscarriages, parity, or calendar period. The risk of an ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth also increased with increasing maternal age. Conclusions Fetal loss is high in women in their late 30s or older, irrespective of reproductive history. This should be taken into consideration in pregnancy planning and counselling.

Heavier women may benefit from avoiding high and very high GWG, which brings only a slight increase in the risk of growth restriction for the infant. High weight gain in underweight women does not appear to have deleterious consequences for them or their infants, but they may want to avoid low GWG to prevent having a small baby.

The genetic architecture of human reproductive behavior – age at first birth (AFB) and number of children ever born (NEB) – has a strong relationship with fitness, human development, infertility and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, very few genetic loci have been identified and the underlying mechanisms of AFB and NEB are poorly understood. We report the largest genome-wide association study to date of both sexes including 251,151 individuals for AFB and 343,072 for NEB. We identified 12 independent loci that are significantly associated with AFB and/or NEB in a SNP-based genome-wide association study, and four additional loci in a gene-based effort. These loci harbor genes that are likely to play a role – either directly or by affecting non-local gene expression – in human reproduction and infertility, thereby increasing our understanding of these complex traits.

Objective To investigate any association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) taken during pregnancy and congenital major malformations. Design Population based cohort study. Participants 493 113 children born in Denmark, 1996Denmark, -2003. Main outcome measure Major malformations categorised according to Eurocat (European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies) with additional diagnostic grouping of heart defects. Nationwide registers on medical redemptions (filled prescriptions), delivery, and hospital diagnosis provided information on mothers and newborns. Follow-up data available to December 2005. Results Redemptions for SSRIs were not associated with major malformations overall but were associated with septal heart defects (odds ratio 1.99, 95% confidence interval 1.13 to 3.53). For individual SSRIs, the odds ratio for septal heart defects was 3.25 (1.21 to 8.75) for sertraline, 2.52 (1.04 to 6.10) for citalopram, and 1.34 (0.33 to 5.41) for fluoxetine. Redemptions for more than one type of SSRI were associated with septal heart defects (4.70, 1.74 to 12.7)). The absolute increase in the prevalence of malformations was low-for example, the prevalence of septal heart defects was 0.5% (2315/ 493 113) among unexposed children, 0.9% (12/1370) among children whose mothers were prescribed any SSRI, and 2.1% (4/193) among children whose mothers were prescribed more than one type of SSRI. Conclusion There is an increased prevalence of septal heart defects among children whose mothers were prescribed an SSRI in early pregnancy, particularly sertraline and citalopram. The largest association was found for children of women who redeemed prescriptions for more than one type of SSRI. INTRODUCTIONDepression affects up to a fifth of pregnant women,

Maternal intake of acetaminophen for more than 4 weeks during pregnancy, especially during the first and second trimesters, may moderately increase the occurrence of cryptorchidism.