Doctors already know stress is tied to increased risk of heart disease and conditions like depression, but now, new research suggests stress may be a reason women trying to conceive experience difficulty getting pregnant.
The researchers, led by Dr. Courtney Denning-Johnson Lynch, director of reproductive epidemiology at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, report their findings in the journal Human Reproduction.
The new study builds on the team's earlier work - that found a link between high levels of stress and reduced likelihood of pregnancy - by finding it is also tied to increased risk of infertility.
For the new findings, the team examined data on 501 couples trying to conceive who were enrolled in the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment (LIFE) Study between 2005 and 2009 at two research centers in the US, one in Michigan and the other in Texas.
The couples were followed for up to 12 months as they tried to conceive.
As part of the data collection, the female participants, aged between 18 and 40, and free from fertility problems, gave saliva samples the morning after they were enrolled and also the morning after their first period after enrollment. From these samples, the researchers could measure levels of cortisol and alpha-amylase, known biomarkers of stress.
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