Women who get pregnant later in life are at higher risk of having children with birth defects in general, and those over age 30 who binge on alcohol are more likely to have babies who suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), HealthDay News reported July 21.

“Our finding that children born to older drinking mothers have more alcohol-related attention deficits than children born to younger drinking women is consistent with prior studies,” said researcher Lisa M. Chiodo of Wayne State University. “Although not conclusive, this finding may be due to older moms drinking for longer periods, greater alcohol tolerance, and having more alcohol-related health problems — all leading to higher levels of alcohol in their fetuses. It has also been suggested that changes in body size, metabolism or composition, or number of births, which are all related to maternal age, may be factors increasing the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure.”

The findings were published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.