Key Concepts
Overview & Definition
Advanced maternal age (AMA): Pregnancy at age ≥35 years. Very advanced maternal age: ≥40 years. The proportion of births to AMA women has tripled since 1980, now representing ~18% of all US births. Age is associated with declining egg quality and quantity, increased medical comorbidities, and higher rates of obstetric complications. On the exam, writers often pair stable-sounding options with unstable data—notice the mismatch before you commit. If the stem names a license or role, reread that line; scope errors are classic trap answers even when the clinical topic is familiar. Run a 60-second scan: breathing work and oxygenation, perfusion and end organs, neuro baseline, likely infection sources, and devices that can fail quietly. When two answers feel partly right, pick the one that reduces imminent harm and matches orders for the role you were given. Train yourself to state the primary risk in one short phrase before you read the options so distractors do not rewrite your priority list. On the exam, writers often pair stable-sounding options with unstable data—notice the mismatch before you commit. If the stem names...