Reproductive and Family History and Health in Later Life: Associations between Childbearing History, Health and Mortality among Women in England and Wales, Results from a Record Linkage Study

Emily Grundy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Cecilia Tomassini, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Parenthood represents a major domain of most people's lives with important implications, including implications for health. However results from studies of this have been conflicting. We analyse associations between parity, timing of births and mortality after age 50 and an indicator of morbidity for different birth cohorts of women in England and Wales (1911-40) using data from the ONS Longitudinal Study. This is a record linkage study including census and vital registration data for a 1% sample of the population. In the cohorts analysed, nulliparous women and women who had a birth before age 20 had significantly higher mortality (after control for marital status and a range of socio-economic characterisitcs). Mothers with two children had the lowest mortality. Nulliparity and early age first birth were also asociated with having a long term illness in 1991. Having a late birth (after age 39) was associated with lower mortality risks.