title: Seasonal variation in human fecundability.
abstract: Seasonality of effective fecundability was investigated in a cohort of 402 women born in or near Rotterdam, The Netherlands, between 1873 and 1887, and married before the age of 40 years. Applying a newly developed method allowing simultaneous control for inherent couple fecundability, numbers at risk of pregnancy, and multiple confounders, we found a trend towards higher fecundability during the first half of June and the first half of December (P = 0.06). Seasonality of effective fecundability appeared to be strongest for women who married at <20 years of age. Potentially important implications for the study of seasonality of adverse reproductive outcome are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Zielhuis
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Jongbloet
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Straatman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010507:Periodicity; D011247:Pregnancy