A study of Australian twins has found that women with alcohol dependence tended to have children later in life than other women, suggesting possibly damaging effects of alcohol on fertility, the Daily Telegraph reported Aug. 20.

The study did not find a link between alcoholism and the age at which men fathered their first child. Researchers said this difference in the data might be attributable to the fact that women attain higher blood alcohol levels than men from similar amounts of consumption, HealthDay News reported Aug. 20.

Gillian Lockwood, MD, a British fertility expert and medical director of Midland Fertility Services, said the possibility that alcohol use affects fertility makes sense because cholesterol is manufactured in the liver and it affects many of the hormones involved in reproduction. Yet researchers for the study also urged caution in interpreting the results, saying the findings could result from non-biological issues such as alcohol-dependent women having relationship problems that delay their having children.

Researchers said theirs was the first study to examine alcohol's effects on reproductive onset across reproductive development, adding that alcohol dependence can cause a variety of menstrual problems, sexual dysfunction and pregnancy complications in women. Experts urge women already experiencing fertility problems not to use alcohol as a response to the stress associated with these problems.

Study results will be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.