EC Gynaecology

Research Article Volume 14 Issue 4 - 2025

Age at First Birth and Later-Life Depression in Women

Chi Wen1*, Nicholas Theodoropoulos2, Hui Xie3, Yannan Li4, Changchuan Jiang5 and Qian Wang6

1Clinical Data Operations, Mount Sinai Health System, New York, NY, US
2Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Morningside and West, New York, NY, US
3Joseph J Zilber School of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, US
4School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
5Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, US
6University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Cleveland, OH, US

*Corresponding Author: Chi Wen, Clinical Data Operations, Mount Sinai Health System, United States
Received: February 05, 2025; Published: March 22, 2025




Introduction: Previous studies showed that depression in women could be related to the age of their first birth. By analyzing the recently collected data, this study aimed to investigate the trends of the age of first birth and its relationship to depression in later life among women in the United States (US).
Methods: This cross-sectional study combined 2011-2018 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). US women between 20-79 years old who had ever had a live birth were included. We calculated the prevalence of depression by characteristics and estimated the association between current depression and age at first birth.
Results: Women whose age at first birth was ≤34 years had a decreased odds of depression (OR = 0.90; 95% CI, 0.88-0.93) whereas those whose age at first birth was > 34 years were at an increased odds of developing depression (OR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.05-1.82) for every year increase of age.
Conclusions: A curvilinear relationship exists between age at first birth and later-life depression in women. When considering women’s general health and family relationships, further investigation of women’s age at birth should be taken as an important component of their mental health.

 Keywords: Women; Depression; Maternal Age; Live Birth; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

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Chi Wen., et al. “Age at First Birth and Later-Life Depression in Women”. EC Gynaecology 14.4 (2025): 01-13.

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