A prospective study of psychosocial stress and fertility in women

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare average stress levels during the month of conception to those of previous infertile months. We postulated that stress level during the actual month of conception would be lower than that during previous non-conception cycles. Thirteen normal women from the general community, who were attempting pregnancy, kept daily records of coital activity and basal body temperature, and twice a month completed self-administered questionnaires and provided a 12 h overnight urine sample. On average, women reported significantly more favourable mood states on standard psychometric tests, during the month of conception than during the previous non-conception cycles. In addition, they felt significantly less 'hassled' during the month of conception. However, mean urinary hormone excretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol did not significantly differ between conception and non-conception cycles and there was little relationship between the psychological measures of mood state and excretion of adrenaline and cortisol. There was no evidence of increased coital frequency during the month of conception when mood states were improved, suggesting that stress effects on libido were unlikely to account for the findings. The results support the conclusion that psychosocial stress influences fertility in females but as yet mechanisms remain unclear.

Pronociceptive and Antinociceptive Effects of Estradiol through Endogenous Opioid Neurotransmission in Women

“…In this regard, there is substantial evidence showing that physical and mental stressors compromise menstrual cyclicity, leading to anovulatory cycles and consequently lower levels of circulating estradiol and progesterone (Harlow and Matanoski, 1991;Bonen, 1994;Carpenter, 1994;Sanders and Bruce, 1997). These mechanisms could then participate in the creation of a vicious circle by which endogenous antinociceptive mechanisms are compromised as gonadal steroid production is chronically diminished.…”

Shared or Discordant Grief in Couples 2–6 Years After the Death of Their Premature Baby: Effects on Suffering and Posttraumatic Growth

“…Having other children might have positive effects in terms of distracting parents' from ruminating about the dead baby towards the living children. Also women who show intense grief may have more difficulty conceiving than those experiencing less grief due to psycho physiological factors 32 . In addition, among Discordant couples, differences in grief and emotions are likely to result in less frequent sexual intercourse 32 .…”

Prospective pregnancy study designs for assessing reproductive and developmental toxicants.

“…Our initial search yielded 18 studies, of which 13 were selected for review. Five studies were excluded for the following reasons: a) clinical study focusing on postimplantation pregnancy (Miller et al 1980); b) small sample size (n = 24, 13, and 13, respectively) (Hilgers et al 1978;Li et al 2002b;Sanders and Bruce 1997), and c) prospective study comprising only women with clinically recognized pregnancies (Li et al 2002a). We later added two studies, published while we were finalizing this work (Buck et al 2002;Wang et al 2003), which resulted in a total of 15 studies available for review.…”