Short birth gap risky for parents

Women who wait less than 18 months between having children are more likely to die younger than those who have a bigger gap between siblings, research has found.

Mothers who have babies in rapid succession could be putting their physical and emotional health at risk, experts said.

They suggested that the strain of caring for more than one young child at a time, coupled with the fact that a woman's nutritional health might be depleted by the impact of a short birth interval, might be to blame for the higher death rates.

Researchers from the Centre of Population Studies at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London studied three sets of data from women in the UK and the US.

The largest data set covered 1 per cent of the population of England and Wales born between 1911 and 1940.

Another survey from the Medical Research Council included information about 1500 women born in 1946.

The third study, from the US, tracked changes in health, employment, income and wealth for about 10,000 people born between 1931 and 1941.

Analysis found that women who had less than an 18-month gap between their children had a death rate after the age of 50 that was 20 per cent higher than those with a larger sibling age gap.

They were also more likely to suffer from long-term illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis later in life.

Fathers of children born in quick succession had a slightly higher mortality rate, although the effect was not as pronounced as it was in the mothers.

Professor Emily Grundy, who led the research, said: "We show that having a short birth interval of less than 18 months between children carries higher risks of mortality and poor health.

"That finding is particularly interesting because, to our knowledge, it is the first time that later health consequences of birth intervals have been investigated in a developed country population."

She said that the reasons for the higher death rate were complex but could be partly down to sleepless nights and constant feeding demands that come with a rapidly growing family.

"It fits into the theory that having a number of small children at the same time produces both physical and social strains that can affect parents," she said.

"As well as the physical and mental stress involved, it might be that nutrition is important.

"Women might not be recovering from the nutrition depletion caused by having children when there are short birth intervals."

Breastfeeding may also play a part in the findings, the study suggested.

Women who breastfeed tend to wait longer between having children.

In addition, breastfeeding protects against some forms of cancer.

The study also provided further evidence of the link between teenage motherhood and poorer health in later life.

This appeared to hold true whatever a mother's background.

In contrast, women who were over 40 when they had a child seemed to experience better health in later life.

- INDEPENDENT