A five-year study of elderly primiparas

A study of 277 elderly primiparas delivered at the Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn in the years 1943 to 1947, inclusive, has been presented. A comparison has been made of our findings with those reported in recent similar studies. Our incidence of these patients, 2.46 per cent, was higher than the 1.2 per cent reported by Hawkins and by Waters, and lower than the 2.75 per cent reported by Thompson, the 3.6 per cent reported by Arnot, and the 4.2 per cent reported by Dennen. Our cesarean section rate was practically the same as that reported by Thompson, Hawkins, and Waters, higher than that reported by Arnot, and less than half that reported by Dennen. The similarity in the incidence of elderly primiparas in the City of New York and at the Methodist Hospital has been demonstrated, so that the hospital experience in regard to the number of these patients and their problems may be considered as typical for the city as a whole. As compared with other hospital obstetric patients, elderly primiparas more often seek private care, and they have a cesarean section rate over four times as great, a premature rate half again as great, double the neonatal mortality rate, eight times the incidence of Mongolism, and twice the incidence of toxemia.