Infertility in women triggers risk of early deaths, says study

Women who are unable to conceive have 10 percent more chances of dying prematurely than those who are able to conceive and nearly 45 percent of women, due to infertility are more likely to die from breast cancer, said a recent study.

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Women who are unable to conceive have 10 percent more chances of dying prematurely than those who are able to conceive and nearly 45 percent of women are more likely to die from breast cancer, due to infertility, said a recent study.

At the annual congress of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in San Antonio, researchers of the study said that a woman's basic health condition is improved by their babies.

Women who struggle to give birth have been advised to get their cancer screenings done.However, till date, no clear relationship between infertility and early mortality has been found. The risk of getting diabetes, however, increases by 70 percent, the study suggested.

"Association between infertility and medical disease have been noted in the male population, the relationship between a women's infertility and her overall health has not been as robustly examined," said lead author Natalie Stentz, from the University of Pennsylvania, US.

"The study highlights the fact that a history of infertility is indeed related to women's lifelong health and opens potential opportunities for screening or preventive management for infertile women," said Stentz.

In the study, 78,000 women participated for 13 years.The result showed that out of all those participants, 14 percent were infertile and they were not able to conceive baby for more than one year.

The researchers explained that though the effects of diabetes were found in both fertile and infertile women, infertile women might experience higher risk of premature death due to higher levels of endocrine hormone in their body and also diabetes and breast cancer.

"One of the things we do know is that having a baby at some point in a women's life is protective for health," said Stentz.

This article was first published on November 1, 2017
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