Late maternal age and risk of congenital malformation

[Autom. eng. transl.] In this study we consider a particular implication of delayed fertility: the risk of congenital malformations diagnosed at birth. The main objective is the study of the relationship between age at birth and the risk of malformations, net of the effect of social, biological and territorial factors. The data are taken from the Istat D1 and D2 birth data sheets of the Lombardy region. To estimate the effect of the mother's age in a non-parametric manner, a generalized additive model is adopted, with random effects to take into account the correlation between mothers belonging to the same territorial context. The risk that a child is malformed at birth, net of control factors, is particularly high before 20 and after 37 years.