A study has discovered that women who conceive and give birth after receiving fertility treatment have heightened risks of suffering a stroke compared to those who had natural conception.
Fertility Treatment and Stroke Risk
The researchers, who are from New Jersey's Rutgers University, monitored 30 million pregnancies. Among the pregnant women, 287,000 reportedly went through fertility treatments for conception.
Their analysis revealed that women who used fertility treatments, such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), had a 66% higher chance of getting a stroke within one-year post-labor.
The study also revealed that these women had a doubled risk of experiencing a deadlier and more dangerous stroke, the hemorrhagic stroke, which involves brain bleeding. On top of this, they had a 55% higher chance of suffering an ischemic stroke, which is caused by blood supply to a brain region being cut off by a blood clot.
The reason behind this heightened risk attributed to fertility treatments remains a mystery. Nevertheless, the researchers think that it could be due to the hormone treatments that are part of the procedures. Aside from this, there is also a heightened risk for the placenta of the women to not be implanted properly.
Of the many causes of death among women who are pregnant, stroke tops the list. This is said to be because of the strain that pregnancy gives the body. Around 30 out of 100,000 women who bear a child experience a stroke up to a year post-delivery.
The Rising Trend of Fertility Treatments
With more Americans waiting until later to start a family of their own, the number of women opting for IUI or IVF has been increasing. In fact, data reveals that women in their 40s are now giving birth, as the US' birth rate declines.
IVF is just one of the fertility treatments that can help with conception. As part of the process, an egg is taken out of the ovaries and kept inside a lab for fertilization with sperm. The embryo is then implanted into the uterus of the womb for it to be nurtured.
IUI, on the other hand, involves the direct injection of sperm into a woman's uterus.
As part of the treatments, women receive hormone estrogen injections in order to stimulate an egg's release, or ovulation, as well as the maintenance and growth of the woman's uterine lining. Elevated estrogen levels may lead to blood vessel lining damage and boost the factors for blood clotting. As such, this raises the risk of developing a stroke.
However, aside from stroke, women who receive IVF also have an elevated risk of getting ischemic placental disease, which happens when the placenta does not properly link to the uterine lining or is too small.
Experts also suggested that women who are recipients of such fertility treatments could have other underlying and elevated health risks, including obesity, alcohol use, and smoking. All of these make natural conception harder. Age could also be a factor.
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