Researchers have discovered that high cholesterol may delay pregnancy, according to a statement from the Endocrine Society. It can also affect a couple's chances to conceive a child and the odds of a woman to get pregnant.
"From our data, it would appear that high cholesterol levels not only increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, but also reduce couples' chances of pregnancy," said Dr. Enrique Schisterman, chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), via a press release.
Study results also revealed that if only the woman has high cholesterol, this can also decrease the likelihood of conception.
Approximately a third of U.S. adults have high levels of "bad" cholesterol, according to the CDC. Only one out of every tree adults with high levels of bad cholesterol has the condition under control.
"This is the first study to look at cholesterol levels in both partners at the same time, and their influence on the probability of becoming pregnant," Schisterman said.
The results also found that couples in which the woman had higher free cholesterol levels and the man did not also took longer to become pregnant than couples in which both partners had normal cholesterol levels.
As part of the study, researchers analyzed the rate of pregnancies among 501 heterosexual couples trying to get pregnant. Among the couples, 347 became pregnant over the course of the year-long study. Fifty-four couples did not conceive a child.
A hundred couples backed out of the study, including some who decided they no longer wanted to have a child.
The study's findings are described in greater detail in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
