'Fertility Awareness-Based Methods' and subfertility: a systematic review.
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 the day-specific -pregnancy rate, in case of subfertility. A MEDLINE search revealed a total of 3331 articles. After excluding articles based on their relevance, 10 studies and were selected. The observed studies demonstrated that the cervical mucus monitoring (CMM) can identify the days with the highest pregnancy rate. According to the literature, the quality of the vaginal discharge correlates well with the cycle-specific probability of pregnancy in normally fertile couples but less in subfertile couples. The results indicate an urgent need for more prospective randomised trials and -prospective cohort studies on CMM in a subfertile population to evaluate the effectiveness of CMM in the subfertile couple.
Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepse Bos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium. ; Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium.
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Thijssen
Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium.
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Meier
Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium.
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Panis
Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Schiepse Bos 6, 3600 Genk, Belgium. ; Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium.
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Ombelet
Billings method; Creighton model; cervical mucus; conception; fertility awareness; infertility; natural family planning; subfertility; symptothermal method