title: Seasonal preovulatory overripeness ovopathy: a reappraisal of the concept.
abstract: Seasonal Preovulatory Overripeness Ovopathy (SPOO) is one explanation for seasonal variations in the occurrence of congenital anomalies. This concept entails that during some seasons the preovulatory phase of the development of the human egg is lengthened, causing congenital anomalies. Although the concept of SPOO provides an innovative explanation for the etiology of congenital anomalies, its dissemination in the scientific world has been limited. The aim of this paper is to explain this limited dissemination through a critical examination of the concept itself. To do this we analyzed the degree in which this concept has a sufficient informative content and explanatory power, following criteria formulated by Popper. It is concluded that descriptions of the concept of SPOO are ambiguous. Thus the concept cannot be tested and has a limited informative content. The explanatory power of the SPOO concept remains unclear, in itself and relative to competing explanations. Further one of its basic assumptions, seasonal variation of the length of the preovulatory phase due to an endogenous mechanism, has been refuted. Future research should better be directed to causes of preovulatory overripeness ovapathy (OO) other than seasonality. This preovulatory OO offers an innovative view on the etiology of congenital anomalies.
authors.affiliation: Amsterdam Municipal Health Service, Department of Epidemiology, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Reijneveld
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: de Bock
mesh_terms: D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005498:Follicular Phase / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010063:Ovum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology*; D012621:Seasons