Evolutionary theories of ageing point to reproduction as a significant factor to consider when asking why ageing occurs and why there is inter-individual variation in its progression. Reproduction in human females is costly, in terms of energy, nutrients and metabolic adjustments. Thus, it is expected that women who experienced high reproductive effort resulting from multiple reproductive events will age faster. However, the evidence for long-term negative effects of reproduction is not conclusive. The lack of understanding of whether there are trade-offs between reproduction and ageing in women is partly due to methodological challenges. The costs of reproduction are often calculated based only on parity, while other elements contributing to these costs (e.g. breastfeeding, timing of reproduction) are neglected, which may significantly underestimate the total costs and obscure the all-important inter-individual variation in such costs. Costs must be evaluated in relation to individual characteristics, including developmental conditions, nutritional status and social support that a mother receives during reproduction. Furthermore, ageing and health must be assessed based on comprehensive markers rather than arbitrarily assembled variables. Finally, longitudinal rather than cross-sectional studies and new statistical approaches are needed to reveal how much of a decline in health and progressing ageing can actually be attributed to past reproductive processes.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Evolution of the primate ageing process'.

衰老的进化理论指出，在询问衰老发生的原因以及衰老过程中存在个体间差异时，生殖是一个需要考虑的重要因素。就能量、营养和代谢调整而言，人类女性的繁殖成本很高。因此，预计因多次生殖事件而经历高生殖努力的女性将衰老得更快。然而，生殖的长期负面影响的证据并不确凿。人们对女性生殖和衰老之间是否存在权衡缺乏了解，部分原因是方法论上的挑战。生育成本通常仅根据胎次来计算，而忽略了影响这些成本的其他因素（例如母乳喂养、生育时间），这可能会大大低估总成本并掩盖此类成本中最重要的个体间差异。成本必须根据个人特征进行评估，包括发育状况、营养状况和母亲在生育过程中获得的社会支持。此外，衰老和健康必须基于综合指标而不是任意组合的变量来评估。最后，需要纵向而不是横断面研究和新的统计方法来揭示健康下降和衰老进程在多大程度上实际上可以归因于过去的生殖过程。

本文是主题“灵长类动物衰老过程的进化”的一部分。