A new study reveals that high levels of stress before pregnancy can impact the health of women undergoing infertility treatment.
- Researchers have highlighted the harmful impact of stress on the health of women undergoing infertility treatment, even before the start of pregnancy.
- They found that women with greater preconception stress had higher levels of blood glucose, which is a marker of cardiovascular health.
- The results also showed that blood sugar levels were “abnormally high in 82 of the participants.” However, women with a history of high blood sugar levels during pregnancy “are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease”.
When it comes to procreation, “The prevalence of stress increases over the years, particularly for couples who are unable to conceive naturally. We wanted to assess the extent to which this stress affects health before pregnancy, which may have long-term consequences both on the mother and the child.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in the United States, have highlighted the harmful impact of stress on the health of women who struggle to conceive, even before the start of pregnancy. Their work was published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
Women stressed before pregnancy are more prone to high blood sugar
To reach this conclusion, the team of scientists relied on data from a survey carried out between 2004 and 2019 and involving 398 women aged 18 to 45. All reported “stress perceived before conception” and, among them, 300 conceived their child using medically assisted procreation techniques, such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF), we can read in a communicated. Other variables such as medical history or lifestyle were also taken into account.
The researchers then analyzed the link between the self-reported stress of women treated for infertility and their blood glucose level, which is a well-known marker of cardiovascular health. Not surprisingly, they found that “Women suffering from greater pre-conception stress had higher average blood glucose levels”. Additionally, women who conceived through IUI had “both higher stress and blood sugar levels” than those who had a child through IVF.
Pregnancy: from stress to blood sugar… and cardiovascular problems
The results also show that blood sugar levels were “abnormally high in 82 of the participants”. A problem, when we know from previous studies that women with a history of high blood sugar during pregnancy “are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
“Given the increasing rates of stress over the years and its consequences on cardiovascular health, our results are of major importance for public health”, estimates epidemiologist Lidia Mínguez-Alarcón, lead author of the study. The researcher now plans to study the negative effect of the mother’s pre-conception stress on the baby’s health, already documented by various studies here and there.