The November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research will carry the results of a study of women and teenage girls to determine what, if any, effect drinking problems have on a woman’s ability to bear children. The study’s conclusion is that alcohol dependency (AD) is clearly linked to a delayed onset of childbearing.

According to Mary Waldron, a Washington University School of Medicine assistant professor of psychiatry, the effect of alcohol on reproductive health differs from teens to older women.

Teen girls who drink are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, putting them at greater risk of unwanted pregnancies, as well as, increasing their chances of developing alcoholism as they get older. Teenagers who drink are also more likely to have disruptive menstrual cycles than teens who don’t drink.

Older women experience more pronounced consequences, thought to be the result of drinking for longer periods of time than the teens. For mature women, alcohol abuse is thought to impair the menstrual cycle as well as increase the likelihood of sexual dysfunction. Complications of pregnancy that include spontaneous abortion and miscarriage are more common in women drinkers, too, a factor that contributes to the delayed onset of childbearing.

Waldron and her colleagues gathered data from two groups of twins in Australia, one group born between 1893 and 1964 and the other born between 1964 and 1971. The earlier group included 3,634 females and 1,880 males. The latter group included 3,381 females and 2,748 males.

In both groups, alcoholic women began having babies at a later age than women who did not drink to excess. No observable difference was documented in the male study cases, leading researchers to suggest alcoholism does not delay the onset of fatherhood in the same manner it delays motherhood.

Alcohol consumption among young women is on the rise, giving the research team cause to warn of the long-term consequences alcohol dependency poses on reproductive health. The research team also cites women experiencing infertility and other reproductive issues as being at risk of the detrimental effects of alcohol. Many women self-medicate with alcohol to ease the pain and heartbreak caused by reproductive disorders.

The Waldron study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It is said to be the first study of its kind to examine the role of alcohol and reproductive health on both teenage girls and adult women.

Source: Washington University School of Medicine