Fertility Awareness

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of an elective to improve students’ knowledge of fertility awareness-based methods for family planning and to determine whether there was a difference in knowled...

Several studies have evaluated the reliability of using temperature sensors placed in different locations on the body to identify the day of ovulation. However, such demonstrations are lacking for axi...

Background/Objectives: Quantitative urine monitors are increasingly being used for a personalized approach to improve menstrual cycle knowledge and to manage fertility. Although several studies have e...

Background: Fertility rates in the UK are at an all-time low, with infertility affecting approximately 1 in 7 couples. Despite the rising demand for fertility services, fertility awareness, specifical...

Self-Worth is an over-arching evaluation of a person's sense of individual value. Self-worth, however, is an underappreciated concept. It has rarely been reported related to physiological data; we fou...

Background: Knowledge of the fertile and infertile phases of the menstrual cycle can be applied to conceive or to avoid pregnancy. Fertility intentions and sexual behaviors during the fertile time may...

A one-day meeting was held as a pre-conference to the Catholic Medical Association Annual Educational event in 2024. A panel of eighteen physicians, scientists, and researchers involved in NFP work wa...

Background: Fertility awareness-based methods (FABM) of family planning have increased in popularity in recent years. The effectiveness of various methods can vary substantially and can be user depend...

Breast tenderness and swelling are associated with premenstrual symptoms but are not well described in healthy women. In this 1-year prospective observational study, we examined daily breast tendernes...

Objective: There is considerable individual day-to-day variation within the menstrual cycle and between cycles in women. Average hormone curves inadequately describe the individual hormone patterns ex...

In 1972, a seminal article was published demonstrating that women, adequately trained, could detect the approach of ovulation in the fertile window of their menstrual cycle. It was demonstrated that t...

Background: Measuring quantitative menstrual cycle hormones at home may help women better understand their postpartum and perimenopause fertility transitions, but these quantitative fertility monitors...

Welcome to the Journal of Restorative Reproductive Medicine, the official journal of the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine! JRRM is a peer-reviewed, open-access medical jou...

Study Question: What is the relative length variance of the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase within healthy, non-smoking, normal-weight, proven normally ovulatory, premenopausal women wit...

Background: The use of fertility indicators to predict ovulation has largely been studied for contraceptive purposes, while less so as fertility-promoting tools. Objective: To investigate the associa...

Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs), also known as natural family planning (NFP), enable couples to identify the days of the menstrual cycle when intercourse may result in pregnancy ("fertile da...

BACKGROUND AND Objectives: Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are evidence-based means of tracking observable biomarkers of a woman's fertility for the purpose of reproductive health monitoring...

Objective: To study whether the menstrual cycle has a circaseptan (7 days) rhythm and whether it is associated with the lunar cycle (also defined as the synodic month, it is the cycle of the phases of...

BACKGROUND: A general practitioner (GP) standardly provides contraceptive counselling and care in the Netherlands. Recent years have seen the rise of mobile health technologies that aim to prevent pre...

The fertility tracking of menstrual cycles during perimenopause with a quantitative hormone monitor is a novel undertaking. Women in regular menstrual cycles have been tracking their fertility using d...

Objective: To assess patient experiences using a Shared Decision-Making (SDM) Tool for fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning. Methods: The study employed a prospective crossove...

Objective: To assess the effect of randomization to FertilityFriend.com, a mobile computing fertility-tracking app, on fecundability. Design: Parallel non-blinded randomized controlled trial nested wi...

Objective: To assess the impact of a Shared Decision-Making (SDM) tool for fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning. Methods: Clinicians familiar with at least one FABM were rando...

Introduction: Evidence-based, nonbiased, counseling on contraceptive options, followed by shared decision-making, is key in facilitating reproductive justice in a diverse population. An estimated 3% o...

The uses of cervical mucus and basal body temperature as indicators of return to fertility postpartum have resulted in high unintended pregnancy rates. In 2013, a study found that when women used urin...

This pilot qualitative case study was able to elicit rich data enabling a description of how women went through the journey of achieving pregnancy using fertility awareness-based methods. Findings und...

Background and Objectives: Accuracy in detecting ovulation and estimating the fertile window in the menstrual cycle is essential for women to avoid or achieve pregnancy. There has been a rapid growth ...

BACKGROUND AND Objectives: Knowledge and competency in the topics of reproductive health and family planning are important for primary care physicians. Given the high rates of unintended pregnancy, in...

Background: The timing of the resumption of post-partum menses is important for a woman who intends to avoid subsequent unintended pregnancy, and it has key implications on maternal, neonatal, and chi...

STUDY QUESTION: Does sexual intercourse enhance the cycle fecundability in women without known subfertility? SUMMARY ANSWER: Sexual intercourse (regardless of timing during the cycle) was associated ...

Objective: The Natural Cycles app employs daily basal body temperature to define the fertile window via a proprietary algorithm and is clinically established effective in preventing pregnancy. We soug...

Natural family planning (NFP) empowers women to control their reproductive health and approach fertility as a normal biological process. Although substantive literature supports their comparative effe...

Background: Some studies have suggested minor changes in the menstrual cycle after COVID-19 vaccination, but more detailed analyses of the menstrual cycle are needed to evaluate more specific changes ...

Objectives: To summarize the evidence on typical and perfect-use effectiveness of fertility awareness-based methods for avoiding pregnancy during the postpartum period, whether breastfeeding or not. ...

Background: Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) educate about reproductive health and enable tracking and interpretation of physical signs, such as cervical fluid secretions and basal body tempe...

Over the last 5 decades, the fulfillment of maternity wishes in solid organ transplanted women has become a reality. Despite pregnancy contraindication in transplanted women during the early post-tran...

Background: Caffeine is the most frequently used psychoactive substance in the United States and >90% of reproductive-age women report some amount of intake daily. Despite biological plausibility, pre...

Women of reproductive age need reliable and effective family planning methods to manage their fertility. Natural family planning (NFP) methods or fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) have been in...

Background: The principal objective of this study was to correlate biophysical properties of vaginal discharge present in the cervical mucus with the timing of the fertile window. In particular, we pr...

Background: A new fertility monitor is now available that provides quantitative measurement of urinary hormones, but clinical use requires validation against an established fertility monitor that prov...

Background: Time to pregnancy (TTP) is a biomarker of fecundability and has been associated with behavioral and environmental characteristics; however, these associations have not been examined in a l...

STUDY QUESTION: What is the normal range of cervical mucus patterns and number of days with high or moderate day-specific probability of pregnancy (if intercourse occurs on a specific day) based on ce...

Objective: To synthesize the literature on fertility knowledge and fertility-awareness among women seeking pregnancy. Data Sources: The search terms "fertility-awareness OR fertility knowledge AND wo...

The aim of this study was to determine predictive factors for pregnancy and assess the cumulative pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (CLBR) in subfertile couples undergoing timed intercourse (TI...

Women's interest in sex is asserted to increase at the mid-cycle pre-ovulatory estradiol peak. We explored this belief in healthy, spontaneously normally menstruating/ovulating women. Women recorded "...

Objective: Fertility is becoming increasingly supported by consumer health technologies, especially mobile apps that support self-tracking activities. However, it is not clear whether the apps support...

Purpose: Digital fertility awareness-based contraception offers an alternative choice for women who do not wish to use hormonal or invasive methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the key de...

Marital chastity is the practice of periodic abstinence with use of natural family planning (NFP). The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the most common methods of contraception ...

Background: Digital fertility awareness-based methods of birth control are an attractive alternative to hormonal or invasive birth control for modern women. They are also popular among women who may b...

Background: Attaining pregnancy is conditional upon a series of complex processes, including adequately timed intercourse, ovulation, fertilisation, and implantation. Anovulation is a first-line treat...

STUDY QUESTION: To what extent does the use of mobile computing apps to track the menstrual cycle and the fertile window influence fecundability among women trying to conceive? SUMMARY ANSWER: After ...

RESEARCH Question: To characterize mobile fertility tracking applications (apps) to determine the use of such apps for women trying to conceive by identifying the fertile window. Design: An explorator...

STUDY QUESTION: Does sexual intercourse in the implantation time window (5-9 days after ovulation) reduce fecundability? SUMMARY ANSWER: After adjustment for intercourse in the fecund window and clus...

This study explores differences in the use of CycleProGo™ (CPG), a fertility-tracking app developed by Couple to Couple League (CCL), between those exposed to it as a part of natural family planning (...

This study reports on 632 cycles from 105 women who were using the CREIGHTON MODEL FertilityCare™ System to avoid pregnancy and had either a serious reason to avoid pregnancy or some degree of a lack ...

This article reviews the competition of two natural family planning methods in the mid-1970s when the Catholic Natural Family Planning program was underway in Korea. The Catholic Church, emphasizing t...

Objectives: We examined the association between incorrect knowledge of ovulation and unintentional pregnancy and child among young women in sub-Saharan Africa countries. Methods: Using Pearson's Chi-...

Introduction: There has been a phenomenal worldwide increase in the development and use of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) that monitor menstruation and fertility. Critics argue that many of...

Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning involve monitoring various signs and symptoms of fertility during the menstrual cycle to identify the "fertile window," or the days of the ...

BACKGROUND: There is variability between women for days of menstrual bleeding, cycle lengths, follicular phase lengths, and luteal phase lengths, related to age and parity. OBJECTIVE: To describe tot...

BACKGROUND: Previous research has demonstrated that women instructed in fertility awareness methods can identify the Peak Day of cervical mucus discharge for each menstrual cycle, and the Peak Day has...

All multicellular organisms host microbial communities in and on their bodies, and these microbiomes can have major influences on host biology. Most research has focussed on the oral, skin, and gut mi...

In 2006-2008, 610 premenopausal, spontaneously menstruating women in the Metro Vancouver region participated in a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded singlecycle in which they collect...

Background: Body temperature is a common method in menstrual cycle phase tracking because of its biphasic form. In ambulatory studies, different skin temperatures have proven to follow a similar patte...

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the frequency of use of selected fertility awareness indicators and to assess their influence on fecundability. DESIGN: Web-based prospective cohort study. SETTING: Not applic...

Women wishing to conceive are largely unaware of fertility symptoms at the time of ovulation. This study investigated the effectiveness of fertility-awareness in achieving pregnancy, particularly fert...

Background: Women trying to conceive are increasingly using fertility-tracking software applications to time intercourse. This study evaluated the difference in conception rates between women trying t...

For most women of reproductive age, assessing menstrual health and fertility typically involves regular visits to a gynecologist or another clinician. While these evaluations provide critical informat...

### What you need to know Fertility awareness based methods of contraception are increasingly being used for pregnancy prevention.1 In the US, the proportion of contraceptive users who choose such met...

Background: Progesterone rises \~24-36 h after ovulation. Past studies using ultrasound-confirmed ovulation have shown that three consecutive tests with a threshold of 5μg/mL of urine progesterone (pr...

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the effect of previously used contraceptive methods on women's shortand long-term fecundity. Use of hormonal contraception (HC) was compared with the use...

Rationale: Ovulation confirmation is a fundamental component of the evaluation of infertility. Purpose: To inform the design of a larger clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of a new home-ba...

Background: Previous research examining physiological changes across the menstrual cycle has considered biological responses to shifting hormones in isolation. Clinical studies, for example, have show...

Objective: Dynamic Optimal Timing (Dot) is a smartphone application (app) that estimates the menstrual cycle fertile window based on the user's menstrual period start dates. Dot uses machine learning ...

A special course on Marriage, the Family and Human Sexuality was established at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis so as to assist the seminarians in their better understanding of the Church's teac...

The ability to accurately predict ovulation at-home using low-cost point-of-care diagnostics can be of significant help for couples who prefer natural family planning. Detecting ovulation-specific hor...

Identifying the return of fertility with cervical mucus observations is challenging during the postpartum period. Use of urinary measurements of estrogen and progesterone can assist in understanding t...

A one-day meeting of physicians, professional nurses, and scientists actively involved in Natural Family Planning (NFP) research was held to review the state of the science of NFP and consider future ...

OBJECTIVE: To summarize best available prospective data on typical and perfect use effectiveness of fertility awareness-based methods for avoiding pregnancy. DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic r...

This issue of Current Medical Research (CMR) includes studies that provide evidence that use of natural family planning (NFP) can be helpful for subfertile couples wishing to achieve a pregnancy, the ...

Natural family planning (NFP) methods have served many generations well, and in particular, the symptothermal or symptohormonal methods. The comparison of daily mucus and temperature records for indiv...

Objective: The accuracy of prediction of ovulation by cycle apps and published calendar methods was determined by comparing to true probability of ovulation. Methods: A total of 949 volunteers collec...

Oral contraceptives (OCs) are often prescribed to adolescents and young adults for the treatment of health problems and to avoid unwanted pregnancies. We hypothesized that the use of OCs, among adoles...

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of achieving pregnancy with focused intercourse in the fertile window identified using natural fertility indicators. Methods: 24-cycle prospective effectiven...

Background: There are many mobile phone apps aimed at helping women map their ovulation and menstrual cycles and facilitating successful conception (or avoiding pregnancy). These apps usually ask user...

Core and peripheral body temperatures are affected by changes in reproductive hormones during the menstrual cycle. Women worldwide use the basal body temperature (BBT) method to aid and prevent concep...

Background and PurposePublished reports indicate that over 100 million women worldwide use the birth control pill (Oral Contraceptives, or OCPs).1,2 However, in a national study conducted by the Batte...

CONTEXT: The Creighton Model FertilityCare(TM) System (CrM) is a standardized approach for educating women about the biomarkers of their fertility. Couples can use this information for timing intercou...

Sir,Currently, a variety of start-up companies are developing mobile phone apps to track the menstrual cycle and the fertile window, for the use of women who are trying to conceive or trying to avo...

NaProTECHNOLOGY is a new field of medicine specializing in the promotion of human procreation. Its foundation is a teaching system called the Creighton Model Fertility Care System. It is based on the ...

OBJECTIVE: Traditional medical school curricula have not addressed fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning. The objective of this study was to assess (1) 3-year medical students' ...

Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of an online, nurse-managed natural family planning (NFP) program among breastfeeding women and subgroups of these women. Design: Longitudinal comparative cohor...

An affordable, user-friendly fertility-monitoring tool remains an unmet need. We examine in this study the correlation between pulse rate (PR) and the menstrual phases using wrist-worn PR sensors. 91 ...

Purpose: Birth control is a persistent global health concern. Natural family planning (NFP) comprises methods to achieve or avoid pregnancy independent of mechanical or pharmacological intervention. T...

Objectives: Recent evidence has shown that young adults have poor knowledge about reproductive health and fertility, and that interventions are needed to increase fertility awareness. The aim of this ...

CONTEXT: Contraceptive failure rates measure a woman's probability of becoming pregnant while using a contraceptive. Information about these rates enables couples to make informed contraceptive choice...

This Committee Opinion provides practitioners with suggestions for optimizing the likelihood of achieving pregnancy in couples/individuals attempting conception who have no evidence of infertility. Th...

Purpose: To analyze cumulative pregnancy rates of subfertile couples after fertility awareness training. Methods: A prospective observational cohort study followed 187 subfertile women, who had recei...

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine and compare extended use-effectiveness of an online nurse-managed fertility education service program among women (and subgroups of women) seeking to ...

Various fertility indicators are used by natural family planning methods to identify the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle: mucus observations, cycle-day probabilities, basal b...

Introduction: In recent years there has been an explosion in the development of medical apps, with more than 40,000 apps now available. Nearly 100 apps allow women to track their fertility and menstru...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between menstrual cycle characteristics in early life and adulthood and fecundability. Methods: Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO) is an In...

BACKGROUND: To examine transient environmental exposures and their relationship with human fecundity, exposure assessment should occur optimally at the time of conception in both members of the couple...

STUDY Question: Do the basal body temperature (BBT) shift and the cervical mucus markers for the beginning of the post-ovulatory infertile phase (POIP) of a menstrual cycle agree with the correspondin...

Background: Ovulatory menstrual cycles are essential for women's fertility and needed to prevent bone loss. There is a medical/cultural expectation that clinically normal menstrual cycles are inevitab...

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of contraception, abortion, and natural family planning (NFP) on divorce rates of US women of reproductive age. The variables of importance of ...

Introduction: The length of periodic abstinence, due to overestimation of the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle, is often a cause for dissatisfaction, discontinuation, and user error with natural f...

Ovulation occurs on 1 day during each menstrual cycle (even if multiple follicles are involved), and the several days preceding ovulation are when intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy. Co...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the sensitivity and specificity of the self-identified fertile window. DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): A total of 107 women. INTERVENTION(S):...

There has been much debate regarding levonorgestrel emergency contraception's (LNG-EC's) method of action since 1999 when the Food and Drug Administration first approved its use. Proponents of LNG-EC ...

Fertility awareness based methods (FABMs) can be used to ameliorate the likelihood to conceive. A literature search was performed to evaluate the relationship of cervical mucus monitoring (CMM) and th...

By encouraging doctors and scientists to improve the regulation of births through the observation of natural fertility rhythms, Humanae vitae promoted the development of natural family planning (NFP)....

BillingsMentor is an automated Web-based service for the Billings Method of natural family planning in which the guidance and interpretation previously communicated from teacher to student is provided...

BACKGROUND: The Creighton Model FertilityCare System (CrMS) teaches women to identify days when intercourse is likely to result in pregnancy. We sought to assess the impact of the CrMS on time to preg...

Objective: To compare previously used algorithms to identify anovulatory menstrual cycles in women self-reporting regular menses. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Western New York. PATIENT(S...

Knowledge regarding the role of the cervix in fertility has expanded considerably over the past 20 years and in this article, we propose that it is now time for its function to be reappraised. First, ...

The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services allows the use of an emergency contraceptive for a woman who has been raped, as a defense against her attacker's sperm, provided ...

Purpose: Difficult clinical signs such as confusing cervical mucus or erratic basal body temperature can make the use of fertility awareness methods (FAMs) difficult in some cases. The goal of this st...

Objective: To determine the efficacy of using natural family planning (NFP) methods to avoid unintended pregnancy among women of perimenopause age (i.e., age 40-55 years). Design: A secondary analysis...

BACKGROUND: Transient exposures may influence fertility and early embryonic development. To assess the time of conception in vivo and conduct concurrent biomonitoring, ovulation must be identified pro...

Purpose: To compare pregnancy rates when women have intercourse on self-estimated high and peak fertile days and when they only have intercourse on low fertile days during the fertile window (FW). STU...

STUDY Question: What are the characteristics of, and how variable are, individual normal menstrual cycle profiles of excretion rates for the urinary metabolites oestrone glucuronide (E1G) and pregnane...

Purpose: To determine the influence of mutual motivation on unintended pregnancy rates of couples who used natural family planning (NFP) methods to avoid pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN AND Methods: Using an...

Objective: Urinary hormonal markers may assist in increasing the efficacy of Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABM). This study uses urinary pregnanediol-3a-glucuronide (PDG) testing to more accurat...

There are few studies that have investigated the spiritual problems of couples practicing natural family planning (NFP). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spiritual problems and intervention...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of cervical mucus monitoring (CMM) in women trying to conceive and determine whether monitoring is associated with increased cycle-specific probability of conception (fecu...

The purpose of this study was to compare the utilization of medical help for fertility among women who reported up to a year versus more than a year of trying to become pregnant and to describe the ch...

As the editor of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre's new book Fertility and Gender: Issues in Reproductive and Sexual Ethics (Watt 2011), I was delighted to read Sr. Renee Mirkes’ generous review in th...

INTRODUCTION: The postpartum period is a challenging time for family planning, especially for women who breastfeed. Breastfeeding delays the return of menses (lactational amenorrhea), but ovulation of...

Each year, over three-fourths of the women of reproductive age in the United States seek family planning services from primary care clinicians. Women and their doctors should be informed of all effect...

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a leading cause of infertility. We studied the rheological properties of cervical-vaginal secretions in five PCOS patients during variable treatment intervals with ...

Natural family planning methods provide a unique option for committed couples. Advantages include the lack of medical adverse effects and the opportunity for participants to learn about reproduction. ...

Background: The aim was to compare the efficacy and acceptability of two Internet-supported fertility-awareness-based methods of family planning. STUDY Design: Six hundred and sixty-seven women and t...

Family planning is often regarded as the woman's responsibility, but there is growing recognition of the need to involve men in family planning programs. Since 2001, the fertility-awareness-based Stan...

The Standard Days Method (SDM) is a method of family planning that assumes ovulation to be close to the midpoint of the menstrual cycle; fertility falls between days 8 and 19; and is most effective fo...

Beginning January 1, 2009, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington mandated that all engaged couples take a full course of NFP instruction as part of preparation for marriage within the Church. Using ...

Fertility awareness constitutes fundamental knowledge for every woman and is an important tool for health professionals. The objective of this review is to show how fertility awareness can be useful i...

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. and they contribute to over 50 percent of Catholics under the age of 25. The purpose of this study was to determine the patterns of contraceptive u...

INTRODUCTION: Natural family planning (NFP) methods are effective for contraception with proper and consistent use. However, only 1% of patients at federally funded Title X family planning clinics sel...

This is an observational quantitative and analytical study aimed at verifying the knowledge, acceptability and use of natural family planning (NFP) by patients in a university hospital from July to No...

Background: The UNDP/WHO/World Bank/Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (Geneva) set up a study to determine whether it is feasible for women to moni...

El objetivo de este artículo es revisar los principales conceptos en la literatura acerca de la ventana de la fertilidad en pacientes con ciclos menstruales normales. El énfasis principal del artículo...

In current medical practice, many women are prescribed hormonal contraceptives as a method of family planning. Over the years, medical professionals have prescribed hormonal contraceptives to manage n...

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, knowledge of fertility, and acceptability of a web-based natural family planning (NFP) education and service program. Design: A 6-month repeated measure longitudin...

Objective: To determine what contribution the Standard Days Method® (SDM) makes to the contraceptive mix offered by regular health services in areas of Peru where contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) ...

This letter to the editor discusses a review article commenting on the efficacy of contraceptive methods. It takes issue with section focused on natural family planning methods (Billings ovulation met...

OBJECTIVE: To assess physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practice with respect to four evidence-based natural family planning (NFP) methods: Standard Days, cervical mucus, basal body temperature, a...

Cognitive dietary restraint (CDR) is the perception of limiting food intake to achieve/maintain a perceived ideal body weight. The objective of this 2‐yr prospective study was to determine if women wi...

Dynamic latent class models provide a flexible framework for studying biologic processes that evolve over time. Motivated by studies of markers of the fertile days of the menstrual cycle, we propose a...

Objective: To assess computerised least-squares analysis of quantitative basal temperature (LS-BT) against urinary pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) as an indirect measure of ovulation, and to evaluate t...

Objective: To determine if an electronic hormonal fertility monitor aided method (EHFM) of family planning is more effective than a cervical mucus only method (CMM) in helping couples to avoid pregnan...

Modern fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning have been offered as alternative methods of family planning. Billings Ovulation Method, the Creighton Model, and the Symptothermal M...

Relatively few Catholic couples in the United States use modern methods of natural family planning (NFP). So too, few Catholic physicians and health professionals prescribe the use of NFP methods for ...

Two types of cervical mucus are recognized, oestrogenic and gestagenic. These are constituted by different subtypes, and their characteristics change depending on variations in the hormonal levels and...

BACKGROUND: To assess the amount of variability in ovarian follicular growth rate and maximum follicular diameter related to different centers, women and cycles of the same women in a multicenter obse...

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of the Marquette Method (MM) of natural family planning (NFP) as a method of avoiding pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN AND Methods: This was a 12-month retrospective ev...

Objectives: We evaluated outcomes in couples treated for infertility with natural procreative technology (NaProTechnology [corrected] NPT), a systematic medical approach for optimizing physiologic con...

The acrosome is a secretory vesicle located in the sperm head. The acrosome reaction consists in the fusion of the sperm plasma membrane with the external acrosomal membrane. It has been observed that...

Background: Many national and institutional family planning policies explicitly include fertility awareness-based methods among the method options that should be made available, but these methods are ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the variability in length of the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle with 140 participants who produced 1,060 cycles with an electronic hormonal fertility m...

The period in each menstrual cycle during which sexual intercourse can result in conception is called the "fertile window". Although the fertile window closes on the day of ovulation, little is known ...

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an electronic hormonal fertility monitor plus cervical mucus monitoring to avoid pregnancy. Design: A 12-month prospective clinical efficacy trial. SETTING...

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of fertility awareness based (FAB) methods of family planning is critically reviewed. The objective was to investigate the efficacy and the acceptability of the symptothermal ...

Time to pregnancy, typically defined as the number of menstrual cycles required to achieve a clinical pregnancy, is widely used as a measure of couple fecundity in epidemiologic studies. Time to pregn...

Approaches to measuring fecundity include the assessment of time to pregnancy and day-specific probabilities of conception (daily fecundities) indexed to a day of ovulation. In this paper, we develop ...

Conception, as defined by the fertilisation of an ovum by a sperm, marks the beginning of human development. Currently, a biomarker of conception is not available; as conception occurs shortly after o...

Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning help women to identify the days of the cycle they should avoid unprotected intercourse to prevent pregnancy. Therefore using fertility awareness-ba...

Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, which is further promoted by the low utilisation of modern contraceptive methods. Yet, many communities claim to have traditiona...

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey of 357 reproductive-aged women, mostly Hispanic (81.8%), presenting for ambulatory and hospital reproductive care in Phoenix, AZ, about their interest in...

Context: Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning help women identify the days of the menstrual cycle when they are most likely to become pregnant. To prevent pregnancy, women avoid unprot...

To the Editor: In the discussion of biologic differences between male and female fertility (April 6 issue),1 Federman states that women are fertile for only 12 hours each month. Although the egg is vi...

The concept of the ovarian cycle as a continuum considers that all types of ovarian activity encountered during the reproductive life are responses to different environmental conditions in order to en...

Objective: To determine variability in the phases of the menstrual cycle among healthy, regularly cycling women. Design: A prospective descriptive study of a new data set with biological markers to es...

With the collaboration of Italian centres providing services on natural family planning, a prospective study collected data on 2755 menstrual cycles of 193 women. A database was constructed using info...

Background: Assessing the psychological acceptability of technologies designed to assist couples in achieving pregnancy is complex. Objective: The current study developed measures relating to the imp...

Background: Urgent measures are required to stop the increase in the frequency of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. A means of facing this problem is promoting sexual abst...

A protocol was developed and evaluated for nonovulating breastfeeding women to determine potential fertility with an electronic hormonal fertility monitor. The amount of required abstinence (i.e., day...

Advanced practice nurses in primary care settings are often asked to give appropriate advice to couples seeking pregnancy. This article examines the issue of basal body temperature (BBT), a time-honor...

Objectives: The objective of the present paper is to review the main results of recent European cycle databases on ovulation detection and determination of the fertile window performed by the women th...

Two main types of cervical mucus have been described during the menstrual cycle: oestrogenic and progestative. Each category shows diverse morphological and functional features from the reproductive p...

OBJECTIVE: To develop a new method for estimating the effectiveness of emergency contraception (EC) by using information about previous menstrual cycle length, accounting for the variation in the day ...

Our recent study showed a dose-response relationship between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and the risk of early pregnancy loss. Smoking is known to affect female reproductive hormones. We explore...

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of an abstinence-centered sex education program in adolescent pregnancy prevention, the TeenSTAR Program was applied in a high school in Santiago, Chile. Methods: A ...

Calendar-based methods are not usually considered effective or useful methods of family planning among health professionals. However, new "high-" and "low"-tech calendar methods have been developed, w...

Background: "Fertility awareness-based methods" (FAB) of family planning "involve identification of the fertile days of the menstrual cycle, whether by observing fertility signs such as cervical secre...

Objective: To test the efficacy of the TwoDay Method, a new fertility awareness-based method of family planning that provides women with simple instructions to identify the days each cycle when they a...

The goal of an integrative science of women's health is bringing together childbearing with women's health during the lifespan. Enhancing a woman's ability to conceive and maintain a pregnancy is infl...

Baerwald et al. (1) proposed a new model for ovarian follicular development in the human menstrual cycle. They showed additional waves of follicular development in the follicular and luteal phase of n...

BACKGROUND: Intercourse results in a pregnancy essentially only if it occurs during the 6-day fertile interval ending on the day of ovulation. The strong association between timing of intercourse with...

Nurses and other health care professionals often have little knowledge of methods of natural family planning (NFP) and do not readily prescribe natural methods for their patients. One reason for this ...

The purpose of this study was to compare the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle as determined by the Clearplan Easy Fertility Monitor (CPEFM) with self-monitoring of cervical mucus. One-hundred wome...

The CREIGHTON MODEL FertilityCare System (CrMS) rests on a decades-long body of research demonstrating that cervical mucus functions as a physiologically regulated biological valve, opening predictabl...

Male infertility plays a clinically significant role in a large share of couples who struggle to conceive, yet standard laboratory criteria for semen analysis were designed primarily to predict succes...

This 2004 textbook chapter by Thomas W. Hilgers outlines the structure and content of the formal introductory session used to enroll couples in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System (CrMS). It cove...

Chapter 13 of Hilgers' NaProTECHNOLOGY textbook establishes a clinical behavioral taxonomy unique to the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, distinguishing between achieving-related and avoiding-rel...

The content and sequence of the introductory and follow-up instructional sessions that constitute the formal CrMS education series are outlined, covering observation technique, recording conventions, ...

The FertilityCare Practitioner (FCP) is the trained educator and coach who teaches the Creighton Model FertilityCare System to clients, standardizes charting methodology, and serves as the primary dat...

NaProTECHNOLOGY (Natural Procreative Technology) is defined as a women's health science that monitors and cooperates with the menstrual and fertility cycles to identify, evaluate, and treat gynecologi...

The Mucus Cycle Score, derived from the standardized CrMS daily observations, quantifies cervical mucus quality and quantity across a cycle and correlates with measured estrogen levels and fecundity r...

A CrMS-synchronized hormone sampling protocol is detailed in which progesterone, estradiol, and other reproductive hormones are drawn at cycle-phase-specific time points defined by the charted Peak Da...

Chronic anovulation and progesterone or estradiol deficiency identified through CrMS charting represent periods of suboptimal bone accrual in women of reproductive age, because both estradiol and prog...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effects of aging on the percentage of outwardly healthy couples who are sterile (completely unable to conceive without assisted reproduction) or infertile (unable to conceiv...

Cooperative progesterone and estrogen replacement therapy administers bioidentical hormones in precise synchrony with the woman's CrMS-identified Peak day -- beginning progesterone at P+2 or P+3 and c...

Selective hysterosalpingography combined with transcervical fallopian tube catheterization allows both precise diagnosis and non-surgical correction of proximal tubal occlusion, distinguishing true an...

Physiological and psychological stress disrupts hypothalamic GnRH pulsatility via CRH-cortisol pathways, producing downstream impairments in LH and FSH secretion that manifest as anovulation, delayed ...

Clinical and instructional decision trees guide practitioners through the interpretation of chart findings and the selection of appropriate responses — ranging from continued observation to medical re...

Pelvic adhesions from prior infection, surgery, or endometriosis restrict tubal motility, occlude the fimbriae, and distort ovarian-tubal relationships, constituting a primary mechanical barrier to na...

Pregnancy achievement rates among couples using the CrMS to target fertile days are analyzed by cycle type, reproductive history, and duration of use, demonstrating the system's capacity to accommodat...

A quantitative taxonomy for classifying the cervical mucus cycle is established, using standardized descriptors for mucus type, quantity, consistency, and Peak Day timing to produce objectively compar...

The CrMS charting system is explained in full, including the stamp-based notation for recording mucus characteristics, bleeding, and dry days on the standardized chart, and the conventions for identif...

Women with persistent or continuous vaginal discharges — including those from chronic cervicitis, hormonal imbalance, or other gynecologic sources — present a distinct charting challenge, and this cha...

Although there has been growing concern about the effects of environmental exposures on human fertility, standard epidemiologic study designs may not collect sufficient data to identify subtle effects...

Background: The likelihood of spontaneous conception in subsequent cycles is important for a balanced management of infertility. Previous studies on time to pregnancy are mostly retrospective and bias...

Purpose: Natural Family Planning (NFP) requires periodic abstinence and partner cooperation to prevent pregnancy. The aim of this study was to learn about the effects of modern NFP methods on marital ...

A study was conducted to determine the accuracy and reliability of the Home Ovarian Monitor for measuring estrone glucuronide (E1G) and pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) during ovulatory cycles as a mean...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the day-specific and cycle-specific probabilities of conception leading to clinical pregnancy, in relation to the timing of intercourse and vulvar mucus observations. METHODS: Th...

A discrepancy exists between the interest in modern methods of natural family planning (NFP) and their actual use in developed countries. To explore reasons for this discrepancy, we analyzed data from...

Physicians who counsel women for preconception concerns are in an excellent position to give advice to couples regarding the optimal timing of intercourse to achieve pregnancy. The currently available...

The (PD) peak day of cervical mucus is an important biologic marker for the self-determination of the optimal time of fertility in a woman's menstrual cycle. The purpose of this article is to provide ...

This multicenter study has produced a database of 7017 menstrual cycles contributed by 881 women. It provides improved knowledge on length and location of the "fertile window" (identified as of up to ...

The Standard Days Method is a fertility awareness-based method of family planning in which users avoid unprotected intercourse during cycle Days 8 through 19. A prospective multi-center efficacy trial...

A new contraceptive technology may advance the science of family planning but may do little to affect health if potential users do not deem it an acceptable method. The authors conducted an acceptabil...

Objectives: To study the extent to which variation in satisfaction with a birth control method is explained by variation in perceived physical and psychological effects. Methods: A population survey ...

Focus group research was conducted in four countries to understand how couples who use calendar methods determine when they are at risk of pregnancy, what behavior they adopt during the fertile phase,...

OBJECTIVE: To improve prediction of ovulation in normal cycles. DESIGN: Collection of women's characteristics and their menstrual cycles. Monitoring and analysis of time relationships between several...

Objective: To compare clinical accuracy and ease of use for several of the new rapid one-step home urinary LH detection kits compared with the preexisting OvuQuick brand LH detection kit (designated a...

The Creighton Model system of natural family planning (NFP) is useful in achieving pregnancy, avoiding pregnancy, and detecting some gynecologic disorders. NFP practitioners support the client in usin...

The purpose of this study was to describe and assess certified nurse-midwives' (CNMs) knowledge and promotion of two modalities for child spacing, natural family-planning (NFP) and the lactational ame...

This paper considers the concept of consumer acceptance of medical products and its importance to successful healthcare provision. The critical dimensions ('domains') of acceptance for a product desig...

The objective of this effort was to assess the use and efficacy of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) with reduced numbers of client-provider contacts. A co-sponsored multicenter study of LAM was...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reliability of the most widely used clinical methods for predicting or confirming ovulation. METHODS: We monitored spontaneous cycles in 101 infertile women using basal body ...

Objectives: To provide specific estimates of the likely occurrence of the six fertile days (the "fertile window") during the menstrual cycle. Design: Prospective cohort study. Participants: 221 healt...

Mayan couples in Guatemala have very low rates of contraceptive use but have long expressed an interest in natural family planning methods. A simple calendar rhythm method of family planning was teste...

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the profile of the Dutch Persona user and her opinion about this relatively new way of natural birth control. The results of the stud...

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in natural family planning methods. The biological basis for the application of natural family planning methods is the recognition of ovulation and, more exte...

Effective use of natural family planning is strongly dependent upon adequate instruction. The Creighton Model Fertility Care System (CrMS) has a standardized protocol for instruction of new users that...

A significant number of women worldwide use periodic abstinence as their method of family planning. Many of them use some type of calendar-based approach to determine when they should abstain from unp...

OBJECTIVE: To assess physicians' knowledge and practices of modern methods of natural family planning. METHODS: A questionnaire was mailed to 840 physicians selected randomly from Missouri state lice...

In Brief Objective To assess physicians' knowledge and practices of modern methods of natural family planning. Methods A questionnaire was mailed to 840 physicians selected randomly from Missouri stat...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate pregnancy probabilities during use of the Creighton Model Fertility Care System (CrMS). DESIGN: Couples who began use of the CrMS were entered into this observational cohort st...

User satisfaction and the physical and psychological effects of five commonly used contraceptive methods were investigated in a population survey among 1466 West German women. The focus was on effects...

Small hand-held microscopes have been developed for self-observation of salivary ferning patterns to detect the fertile time of a woman's menstrual cycle. The purpose of this study was to evaluate one...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use effectiveness of Creighton Model (CrM) NaProEducation Technology for avoiding pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: CrM is a medical model of natural procreation education that is a...

A Belgian pilot-study conducted in the framework of the prospective European multi-center study (University of Düsseldorf) tried to establish the use-effectiveness (a sine qua non condition for its ac...

The purpose of this pilot study was to correlate the three biologic markers of the Ovulon fertility monitor (a long-term predictive peak about 6 days before ovulation, a short-term predictive peak abo...

BACKGROUND: In the United States, approximately 4% of women of reproductive age use natural family planning (NFP) to avoid pregnancy. It is unclear whether this low number is related to a lack of avai...

Two common natural family planning (NFP) methods are the ovulation method based on characteristics of cervical mucus and the symptothermal method based on changes in cervical mucus, basal body tempera...

Eighty women attending for consultation at a tertiary referral fertility unit over a 3-month period were surveyed for their knowledge of fertility awareness and how they used this information to enhan...

Despite the recognized benefits for clients and programs of providing natural family planning (NFP) services, few family planning programs offer NFP and few provide fertility awareness education. Furt...

To protect and advocate for their own reproductive health, people of all ages can greatly benefit from enhanced body/self awareness and strong interpersonal communication skills. Body/self awareness a...

Objective: To equip the reader with the tools necessary to evaluate studies of natural family planning (NFP) effectiveness found in the literature and to make recommendations for future NFP effectiven...

Social marketing applies commercial sector ideas to programs to change behavior. It involves a mindset that is customer-focused; a process that starts with customers and continually returns to them fo...

This paper presents demographic data about use of NFP in Europe and the factors which have been identified as influencing that very low use level. Experience with a new ovulation detection device in c...

Natural methods of fertility regulation are acceptable in most cultures. Many couples worldwide do not wish to use contraceptives or do not have access to them but wish to limit their family size or l...

The Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health has evolved a multi-dimensional approach to reproductive health education which has grown from their work in natural family planning and fer...

A pilot study was conducted in Ireland to test the effectiveness of the calendar method of contraception. A conservative rule was used, requiring on average 16 days of abstinence per cycle. Among the ...

This study has determined long-term continuation rates of clients who attended clinics of the New Zealand Association of Natural Family Planning and became autonomous users. It has also identified fac...

The hospital-centered trend that has dominated medical culture and the management of health care during this entire century has, in the last few years, undergone a reversal in Italy. Conditions in oth...

The purpose of this study was to compare the CUE Ovulation Predictor with the ovulation method in determining the fertile period. Eleven regularly ovulating women measured their salivary and vaginal e...

The optimal timing of sexual intercourse in relation to the day of ovulation in order for pregnancy to result is a topic of broad interest. Of obvious relevance to fecundability, on the one hand, a...

The Couple to Couple League (CCL) is pleased that an article and an editorial in the December 1995 issue of the well-respected New England Journal of Medicine confirm that natural family planning (NFP...

There are couples with unmet family planning needs and couples who do not use any modern method, yet they desire to space or avoid pregnancies. Many of them look for safe and effective options like th...

BACKGROUND: The timing of sexual intercourse in relation to ovulation strongly influences the chance of conception, although the actual number of fertile days in a woman's menstrual cycle is uncertain...

The scientific foundations and most notable features of modern natural family planning (NFP) methods are described. NFP techniques require observation of the signs and symptoms occurring during the fe...

Perinatal health professionals are in key positions to either promote or dissuade the use of Natural Family Planning (NFP). The purpose of this article is to describe a survey conducted with perinatal...

A better understanding of reproductive anatomy and physiology has led to newer methods of natural family planning, including the ovulation method and the symptothermal method. Studies have shown that ...

For 10 years, a prospective study has been taking place in Germany to examine the use of natural family planning (NFP). As natural methods are behavioral methods, use-effectiveness, acceptability and ...

During lactational amenorrhea a special type of cervical mucus, similar to that found during the luteal phase, is produced. This mucus, however, is able to support sperm migration. In the study descri...

The following is an address presented to a summit meeting on natural family planning sponsored by the Pontifical Councilfor the Family in December, 1992 I am honored and privileged to have this opport...

OBJECTIVE: Although modern methods of natural family planning (NFP) are effective both to avoid and to achieve pregnancy, relatively few women use these methods. It is not known whether this is due pr...

This paper describes the evaluation of a new method of natural family planning (NFP) in Liberia. The Modified Mucus Method (MMM) was developed to address the need for a simple method of charting for p...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the use effectiveness of the Creighton model ovulation method in avoiding and achieving pregnancy. DESIGN: Prospective, descriptive. SETTING: A natural family planning clinic...

Natural family planning (NFP) methods can be effective if taught well and practised by well-motivated couples. Midwives should be able to give couples an understanding of the basic principles of the m...

An introduction to and some new anatomical and physiological aspects of the cervix and vagina are presented and also an explanation of the biosynthesis and molecular structure of mucus.

Since 1989 an international multicenter prospective study to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of natural family planning (NFP) methods in Europe has been conducted by the NFP Research Cent...

good of all, and above all, for the protection of the weak."2I submit that, no matter how appealing a marketplace model may seem for the NHS, it is a business model.As such the destruction of either p...

A recent survey conducted by the American Academy of Natural Family Planning (AANFP) found that over 55% of Catholic hospitals surveyed either provide or would like to provide some form of Natural Fam...

In spite of constant efforts by health and social workers, existing family planning measures are not used by a vast majority of eligible couples. This is because of the fear that the method may affect...

Studies to evaluate use-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of natural family planning (NFP) were conducted in Liberia and Zambia. The Liberian programme provided uni-purpose NFP services to 1055 cli...

The Billings method, or cervical mucus method, is a natural family planning method developed during the 1970s by the Australian physicians John and Evelyn Billings. The method requires periodic abstin...

Cervical mucus is produced throughout the menstrual cycle. Sperm migration, however, is possible only during the periovulatory period of the cycle. Cervical mucus is also produced during the amenorrho...

Fifty consecutive clients achieved pregnancy using a standardization modification of the Billings ovulation method (the Creighton Model Natural Family Planning System). Of 50 clients followed, 38 (76%...

Natural family planning (NFP) is based on the knowledge *largely nonexistent) of a women as to whether she is in her fertile period or not. In contrast to the calendar method, the Billings method cons...

Natural family planning includes the calendar (rhythm), basal body temperature, ovulation (mucus), and sympto-thermal methods. Reliability of such methods often is underestimated, but effectiveness of...

5 major criteria are used to evaluate family planning methods: efficacy, both theoretical and practical; acceptability as measured by continuation of use; safety; reversibility; and cost, including th...

In recent years, several new devices have been developed to help women achieve or avoid pregnancy. These devices include computerized basal body temperature thermometers, electronic fertility monitors...

In this study we have evaluated the score, sperm migration and ultrastructural characteristics of cervical mucus present in amenorrhoeic women under exclusive breastfeeding at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and...

Evaluation of cervical mucus is a standard for determining the fertile period in natural family planning. Cervical mucus accepts, filters, prepares, and releases sperm for successful transport to the ...

Fertility and the mechanism of ovulation is complex. The processes of fertilization and ovulation are described in this report. Information includes a description of the natural indicators of fertilit...

A study was carried out in order to determine the impact of Nomegestrol acetate on the human cervix and to evaluate the ability of changes induced in cervical mucus to render the cervical canal hostil...

Canalization of cervical mucus from 31 patients at the obstetric/gynecologic clinic at the Universita Cattolica del S. Cuore in Rome, Italy has studied to determine the biochemical basis of canalizati...

The notion of an oscillator or signal generator in the central nervous system that controls the rhythmic release of GnRH and, thereby, the pulsatile secretion of the gonadotropic hormones, originated ...

It is well known that cervical mucus restricts penetration of morphologically abnormal human sperm, both in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanisms of such restriction are not well understood. Usin...

Basal temperature data are known to provide unreliable assessments of luteal phase length when they are evaluated by qualitative, visual-pattern methods. This study of 24 cycles in 24 women compared t...

Time of ovulation as detected by a self-test of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the urine was compared with time of ovulation as detected by self-observation of cervical mucus. Twenty regularly cycling wo...

In a group of 55 unmarried women, mean age 25 years, attending a family planning clinic and having minor gynecological complaints, the correlation between Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) antigen, CT antibo...

Since physicians strongly influence both national family planning policy and individuals' contraceptive choice, a survey was conducted to learn about the perspectives of Sri Lankan physicians (n-100) ...

The purpose of this study was to compare the intimacy, spiritual well being (SWB), and self-esteem of couples using natural family planning (NFP) with those couples using oral contraceptives (OCs). 22...

Women can accurately predict the day of ovulation by examining vaginal mucus using the Billings Ovulation Method (BOM). they then can choose to either have sexual intercourse if they wish to conceive ...

Five programs of instruction in the ovulation method (OM) in diverse geographic and cultural settings are described, and characteristics of approximately 200 consecutive OM acceptors in each program a...

A study of the knowledge, perceptions, and behavioral intentions of physicians regarding periodic abstinence (PA) methods was undertaken in Mauritius, Peru, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Most respon...

Ten years' experience of artificial insemination with cryopreserved donor semen for 1023 courses in 783 women resulting in 572 pregnancies is reported. A simple approach with multiple inseminations ti...

A 12-month evaluation of the Ovulation Method of Natural Family Planning programme in Bangladesh is presented. Four hundred and forty-eight women entered the programme, 232 for spacing, 184 for limiti...

Fertility awareness is experiential learning about cyclic fertility. This awareness, used as a family planning method, differs from contraception because it does not isolate the procreative capacity o...

Cervical mucus observation may be difficult for women who experience continuous mucus throughout their menstrual cycles. This study aims to prove the value of cervical mucus methods for these women. R...

In response to the lack of analyses of natural family planning (NFP) users in the UK a questionnaire was randomly distributed to teachers and users of this method in England and Wales in 1984-85. 464 ...

A cross-sectional sample of women who had attended "at least one" instruction is utilized to assess dimensions of client satisfaction with instruction in and usage of natural family planning (NFP) met...

In order to evaluate the relationship between the urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) surge as detected by the OvuSTICK (Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., Mountain View, CA) method and daily cervical mucus pa...

It is now well accepted that a woman can conceive from an act of intercourse for a maximum of only about 7 days of her menstrual cycle. The reliability of natural family planning depends on identifyin...

Indirect evidence of the occurrence of ovulation, which is generally accepted, is an increase in plasma or serum progesterone. Pelvic ultrasonography can estimate the probable time of ovulation within...

During the 13-cycle effectiveness phase of a five-center study of the ovulation method of natural family planning, there were substantial differences, particularly between the two developed and the th...

Researchers used life table rates from study and comparison groups from rural and urban areas of Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines to test a simplified method of teaching natural family planning (N...

This paper presents the main survey findings from a nationally representative sample of 607 users of periodic abstinence methods in the Philippines in 1984. The survey was conducted because of the wid...

Factors influencing the probability of conception after artificial insemination with donor semen were investigated in a series of 80 infertile couples. Overall, 46 pregnancies were achieved for a crud...

Natural Family Planning (NFP) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "methods for planning or avoiding pregnancies by observation of the natural signs and symptoms of the fertile and inf...

Natural methods of family planning make use of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of the menstrual cycle. Recognizable signs and symptoms occur cyclically, ...

In recent years increasing interest has focused on the symptoms that accompany normal ovulation. 'Identifying the accuracy ofthese symptoms as indicators of ovulation is of practical importance both t...

The first study was done in which vaginal hormonal cytograms were correlated with cervical mucus symptoms as charted by women using the ovulation method of natural family planning. Daily vaginal smear...

There is no information available about the effect of iron in formula on the development of gastrointestinal humoral immune response in early human infancy. We compared standard Enfamil to iron-fortif...

The use-effectiveness of natural methods of family planning in lactation is evaluated by comparing the incidence of unplanned pregnancies in a group of nursing mothers practising these methods with th...

A prospective six-year study (1975-1980) of 273 patients, monitored in the use of natural family planning (NFP), has shown that those with previously irregular menstrual cycles are disadvantaged in th...

The current status of natural family planning (NFP) was reviewed. There is renewed interest in NFP, and many couples who find other methods unacceptable for medical, safety, or personal reasons are tu...

Luteal phase abnormalities in early menstrual cycles after pregnancy have been shown to cause confusion in the practice of natural family planning (NFP) for some patients and to restrict severely the ...

Ninety-five menstrual cycles were studied in 20 women undergoing donor artificial insemination (AID). In 49 cycles basal body temperature (BBT) changes were charted daily and both daily cervical mucus...

Thirty-one normal women were studied daily in 41 cycles. Venous blood samples were taken for measurements of luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), and progesterone (P), and vaginal examinations we...

Reliable indicators to detect the fertile and infertile phases in the menstrual cycle are now available, largely due to the intensive scientific research into fertility over the past decade. This mean...

The author reviews and makes further recommendations for 3 points of the discussion in G. Freundl's pilot study of "Natural Family Planning (Symptothermal Method) and Objective Ovulation Indicators" p...

The Billings/ovulation method is a periodic abstinence method of regulating births based on the client's interpretation of changing patterns in secretions of cervical mucus monitored by external self-...

Factors associated with discontinuation from an island-wide natural family planning program in Mauritius were examined in 2 stratified random samples of 300 (1976) and 350 (1980) acceptors. The data w...

Interesting data on infertile human membranous mucus compared with infertile filamentous mucus have emerged from previous studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The aim of this study was to...

The antiestrogenic effect of clomiphene citrate (CC) on cervical mucus was evaluated in women receiving 150 mg CC daily for 5 days. Daily cervical mucus scores and serum estradiol (E2) concentrations ...

Cervical mucus forms channels when dried under a coverslip. The aim of the present work was: 1) to prove mucus canalization both in spontaneous ovulatory cycles and during ovulation induction with gon...

The efficacy, the ability of Indian women to use the Billings' Ovulation Method, and its effectiveness in helping them to control their fertility was studied in a sample of urban poor living in the De...

With the Billings Ovulation Method of natural family planning, women chart the symptoms of changes of their cervical mucus to determine when they are ovulating. The Ovulation Method is simple to learn...

The calendar rhythm method of natural family planning (NFP) is one of the most popular contraceptive methods in the Philippines. As a result, the Philippines has one of the highest NFP prevalence rate...

Two sets of focus group discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of the rhythm method were carried out in the Philippines in 1980 and 1981. The first discussions were held among 30 women and ni...

The ovulation method makes women aware of certain changes in their cervical mucus. These modifications help to distinguish the beginning and end of the cycle's fertile period and indicate the time of ...

Despite skepticism on the part of the health care delivery system, increasing numbers of women and couples are relying on natural family planning methods to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Most clients re...

When properly taught and practised, natural family planning can be a highly effective form of birth regulation. Recent studies indicate low failure rates of less than three pregnancies per 100 women y...

The symptothermal methods include all those that identify the woman's fertile period through the basal body temperature and the periovulatory signs. Research conducted following the discovery over a c...

All forms of birth control require some motivation, and motivation calls for understanding. If a woman learns to interpret her own cycles, her understanding of her body will be enhanced, and this coul...

There is renewed interest in natural family planning (NFP) as the Philippine Population Program enters the 1980s. Much of this interest is due to the realization that, properly practiced, NFP can be a...

In studying the structural changes of human cervical mucus during the ovulatory cycle, they have been observed to be directly related to ovarian hormone changes. Mucus structural changes, if taken acc...

Frequently, when one mentions natural family planning methods, the response is doubt, bewilderment, ridicule, or scorn. Much of this is due to the fact that many people know only of the rhythm method,...

22 physician-providers who serve natural family planning (NFP) programs, mostly in the private sector, gathered to formulate a standard terminology for the field. The Billings and sympto-thermal metho...

Pip: The concept of utilizing changes in cervical secretion offers a potentially simple method of natural family planning. A detailed international trial has been conducted to test the effectiveness o...

Wade et al.'s report, entitled "A randomized prospective study of the use-effectiveness of 2 methods of natural family planning," contains items worthy of emphasis. These includes the following: 1) le...

The importance of predicting human ovulation for either optimizing or avoiding conception has been considered from an endocrine, morphological and clinical view point. Of the biochemical markers in pe...

This review of natural family planning (NFP) focuses on the following: components of the fertile phase; sympto-thermal methods; the history and methodology of NFP (calendar rhythm, basal body temperat...

During the last decade, the World Health Organization has paid increasing attention to some reliable methods of birth control based on periodic abstinence. There are 2 main methods of natural family p...

Past practices of Natural Family Planning (NFP) have included such techniques as: 1) calendar rhythm in which a constant mathematical relationship was calculated between the day of ovulation and the b...

The estimated time of ovulation (ETO) was correlated with the day of defined postovulatory infertility in 66 hormonally normal menstrual cycles from 24 subjects for each of 15 different natural family...

Genetic errors of many kinds are connected with the reproductive processes and are favored by a nunber of largely uncontrollable, endogenous, and/or exogenous factors. For a long time human beings hav...

The percentage of 869 women in five countries capable of being taught to recognize the periovulatory cervical mucus symptom of the fertile period was determined in a prospective multicentre trial of t...

Several periovulatory symptoms sometimes used in natural family planning are correlated with the estimated time of ovulation in 23 subjects and 64 hormonally normal menstrual cycles. The data suggest ...

Serial sonographic examinations were performed on 15 volunteers five days during the expected midcycle. The 75 sonographic studies were evaluated in a nonbiased manner, and the following features were...

27 healthy young Italian women were studied to evaluate their ability to identify symptomatically the potentially fertile phase of the menstrual cycle by self observation of their cervical mucus patte...

The fertile period of the human menstrual cycle consists of those days on which sexual intercourse can result in a pregnancy. Its duration is determined by the functional life span of the gametes with...

A 2-year international study involving NFP (natural family planning) associations in 5 countries (Canada Colombia France Mauritius U.S.) was conducted to evaluate statistically the effectiveness of th...

The ovulation method provides a woman with an awareness of her cervical mucus pattern. This enables her to mark the beginning and end of the fertile phase of the cycle as well as the time of maximum f...

The authors present "Billing" ovulation method as natural family planning.

Now that principles of NFP have been established specific programs are necessary to disperse information and to teach techniques. The hospital-based NFP program offers the community a needed service a...

Healthy volunteers with regular ovarian function, women taking oral contraceptives, and infertile patients being treated with clomiphene were studied longitudinally from day 7 of the cycle to menstrua...

Twenty-five women scheduled for hysterectomy for nonmalignant disease participated in the study. Sperm storage in endocervical crypts was examined in three groups of patients: nine women pretreated wi...

Four points on the basal body temperatures (BBT) curve have been correlated with the estimated time of ovulation (ETO), as determined by indirect hormonal parameters, in 74 menstrual cycles from 24 su...

I read with interest the recent article by Wade and associates, "A randomized prospective study of the use-effectiveness of 2 methods of natural family planning: an interim report" (134: 628, 1979). I...

It is commonplace for gynecologists to refer to "midcycle" ovulation of women. This concept has often led to the routine diagnosis of ovulatory status on day 14 of what is expected to be a 28-day mens...

In this report, the ultrastructure of eM was studied by cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-scan), which enabled us to observe the sample while it still contained water. … It was then placed in a ...

This study was designed to test the assumption that women with regular menstrual cycles and premenstrual symptoms are ovulatory. 40 women aged 20-40 years were selected as probably ovulatory on the ba...

NFP (natural family planning) has replaced the term of rhythm method in the last decade as a designation for those methods of fertility regulation based on periodic abstinence. A graph presents the sy...

This article describes the theory, methodology, and effectiveness of three natural methods of family planning: rhythm by calendar, strict basal body temperature rhythm, and combination calendar-BBT rh...

12 normal ovulatory women were studied during 17 menstrual cycles. The first day on which the women had increasing quantities of 0.1 ml or more clear cervical mucus (IQCCM) was closely related to the ...

St. Louis University Natural Family Planning Center. St. Louis. Missouri and Creighton University Natural Family Planning Education and Research Center, Omaha. Nebraska

Pip: The only way to be sure of avoiding pregnancy is for a couple to abstain from sexual intimacy during the fertile phase of the woman's cycle. Billings showed by reference to hormonal parameters th...

The observation of the "Peak" mucus symptom in women using the ovulation method of natural family planning has been correlated with the estimated time of ovulation, as evaluated by indirect hormonal p...

The only way to be sure of avoiding pregnancy is for a couple to abstain from sexual intimacy during the fertile phase of the woman's cycle. Billings showed by reference to hormonal parameters that af...

There are currently signs that more women are considering the natural family planning methods as an alternative to medical contraception. In response to this revival of interest, the World Health Orga...

The new methods of natural family planning, i.e., the cervical mucus and symptothermal methods, provide couples with a form of birth control which is medically safe, totally and immediately reversible...

Data from Malaysia on the reproductive goals of husbands and wives are analyzed to determine level of agreement, using new scale measures on preferences for number and sex of children as well as the c...

The cervical canal mucus is important to human fertility since conception can only occur if sperm pass through the contents of the cervical canal to reach the ovum. The biophysical properties of the c...

Summary Although sexual abstinence has probably been the single most important factor in restricting human fertility, Western researchers have tended to regard it as a phenomenon mostly found outside ...

The ovulation method of natural family planning is described in detail as taught in the ovulation method centers with an account of its development in Australia and the underlying philosophy. Hormonal...

Summary Many recent fertility studies in developing societies put forward the hypothesis of a negative relation between economic class and fertility. Data showing a positive relationship are frequentl...

From January 1, 1968 to May 31, 1973, 100 patients received first kidney transplants from sibling donors. All recipients have been followed for at least two years and several as long as 7.5 years. One...

Nine healthy fertile women were studied during 29 menstrual cycles. A cervical mucus grading system, assessed by the patient and used in conjunction with basal body temperature, was correlated with pl...

A personal series of 600 private patients using natural family planning techniques is presented. The total failure rate was 4.7 pregnancies per 100 woman-years. The advantages of this method over conv...

Psychological data was obtained from 1009 couples located in 5 countries who were practicing the temperature-rhythm method of birth control. In the U.S., survey instruments were distributed to 160 cou...

The ovulation method of family planning relies on self-recognition of physiological changes occuring around time of ovulation rather than a calendar to enable a couple to avoid sexual intercourse duri...

502 couples used the basal-body-temperature method of regulating births through 8294 cycles. The overall failure-rate in those confining coitus to the postovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle was 6·...

Physiologic effectiveness is the measure of protection against unwanted pregnancy afforded by a specific contraceptive method under ideal conditions ie, used consistently and according to instructions...

Accurate timing of ovulation is especially necessary (1) in artificial insemination in order to avoid wastage of donor semen; (2) in cases where the husband is relatively infertile and it is necessary...

Cervical mucus at midcycle is increased in amount, acellularity, water content, and fluidity. Furthermore, cervical mucus at this time is well supplied with carbohydrate and presumably amino acids. Fr...