Current commentaryTiming intercourse to achieve pregnancy: Current evidence
Section snippets
The fertile window
Recent research has defined the days of the menstrual cycle during which intercourse is mostly likely to result in pregnancy. Conception is possible from intercourse beginning about 5 days before ovulation extending through the day of ovulation.2, 3 However, conception on the day after ovulation has never been documented.5 This implies that ova may only be fertilizable in vivo for less than a day because spermatozoa can survive for up to 6 days in properly estrogenized cervical mucus.6 Studies
Identifying the fertile window
To optimize the timing of intercourse during the fertile window, a couple must be able to identify this 6-day interval before and including the day of ovulation. Traditional and widely used means of identifying the day of ovulation and the fertile window include basal body temperature and calendar calculations. Newer means include serial ovarian ultrasound, monitoring of hormones in urine, and fertility charting of vaginal discharge. The physiologic basis for these approaches is illustrated in
Clinical recommendation for couples wanting to conceive
Which of these methods should physicians recommend to couples trying to conceive with minimum time to pregnancy, or couples who would like to know the days when intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy? There are currently no comparative studies to directly answer this question. However, based on the data that we have reviewed, we suggest that the most appropriate methods to identify the entire fertile window prospectively for the purpose of achieving pregnancy would be either
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Richard Fehring, DNSc, and Doug Carrell, PhD, for helpful comments on the manuscript.
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