Does Hypertension Affect Fertility? | Birla Fertility and IVF

Links between hypertension and infertility

High blood pressure can lead to fertility problems in both males and females. The medicines used to treat hypertension might also affect fertility. It has been discovered that women with high blood pressure have more difficulty conceiving.

Women who have high blood pressure before pregnancy are at an increased risk of complications during pregnancy such as

Preeclampsia
Premature delivery
Fetal growth restriction
Ceseaserina delivery
Placental separation from the uterus
Fetal death
Interruption in blood supply leading to stroke
Women having seizures
Liver problems
Blood clotting
Risk of kidney failure

High blood pressure in both women and men can make it harder to get pregnant, leading to infertility.

Chronic high blood pressure prior to pregnancy has also been associated

Poor egg quality
Excessive production of estrogen
Difficulty in embryo implantation
Miscarriage

Males with high blood pressure have

Reduced semen volume
Sperm motility (the ability of the sperm to move properly)
Total sperm count

People who can be affected with infertility due to high blood pressure

Old and elderly
Obese or excessively overweight
Age (above 30-35 years)

Infertile women have high blood pressure challenges

Obesity, high cholesterol, stress, and a lack of physical activity can all contribute to high blood pressure. High blood pressure is also something that some women can inherit from family. It’s not as simple as you might assume to figure out what to do about high blood pressure before getting pregnant.

Eating a good diet and exercising are undoubtedly important pre-pregnancy goals, doctors have disagreed on whether or not to begin blood pressure medication before you get pregnant. If your blood pressure is consistently higher than normal when you’re at rest, that is a clear indication that medication is required.

But you can not treat hypertension with medication unless there’s evidence of kidney failure and heart diseases, which is what is looked at in infertile women with hypertension. Therefore, the infertile patient’s problem is that lowering her high blood pressure may take some time.