To determine the effectiveness of achieving pregnancy with focused intercourse in the fertile window identified using natural fertility indicators.
Methods
24-cycle prospective effectiveness study.
Setting
A North American web-based fertility monitoring service.
Participants
256 North American women aged 20-43 (mean age 29.2 years) seeking to achieve pregnancy.
Intervention
Participants identified their fertile window with either electronic hormonal fertility monitoring or cervical mucus monitoring, or both, and recorded their observations on an online fertility tracking system.
Main Outcome Measures
Pregnancies were validated by nurses with an online self-assessed pregnancy evaluation form. Survival analysis was used to determine pregnancy rates.
Results
There were 150 pregnancies among the 256 participants with an overall pregnancy rate of 78 per 100 women over 12 menstrual cycles. There were 54 pregnancies (68%) among the 80 women using the fertility monitor, 11 pregnancies (46%) among the 24 women using mucus monitoring, and 90 (63%) among the 143 women using both mucus and monitor. The 12-cycle pregnancy rates per 100 women were 83 (monitor group), 72 (mucus group), and 75 (mucus and monitor group). Pregnancy rates reached 100% at 24 cycles of use for those women using the hormonal fertility monitor.
Conclusion
Use of the hormonal fertility monitor alone seems to offer the best natural estimate of the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle for women wishing to achieve a pregnancy. Focusing intercourse through 24 menstrual cycles can be beneficial for achieving pregnancy.
Bouchard Fehring Schneider achieving pregnancy fertile window identification primary care, natural fertility indicators cervical mucus LH urinary hormone timed intercourse effectiveness, 24-cycle prospective effectiveness study web-based fertility management system Marquette, fertile window identification pregnancy achievement rate per cycle primary care intervention, Marquette model electronic fertility monitor Clearblue urinary hormone monitoring, Frontiers Medicine 2018 achieving pregnancy primary care fertile window NFP, time to pregnancy cervical mucus observation intercourse timing natural conception, subfertile couples focused intercourse identified fertile days pregnancy rate, fertility awareness-based methods conception optimization first-line infertility treatment, Bouchard Fehring fertile window natural family planning pregnancy achievement data
PMID 29376054 29376054 DOI 10.3389/fmed.2017.00250 10.3389/fmed.2017.00250
Cite this article
Bouchard, T. P., Fehring, R. J., & Schneider, M. M. (2017). Achieving Pregnancy Using Primary Care Interventions to Identify the Fertile Window. Frontiers in medicine, 4, 250. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2017.00250
Bouchard TP, Fehring RJ, Schneider MM. Achieving Pregnancy Using Primary Care Interventions to Identify the Fertile Window. Front Med (Lausanne). 2017;4:250. doi:10.3389/fmed.2017.00250
Bouchard, T. P., et al. "Achieving Pregnancy Using Primary Care Interventions to Identify the Fertile Window." Frontiers in medicine, vol. 4, 2017, pp. 250.
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