The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Stress reduces conception probabilities across the fertile window: evidence in support of relaxation
Open accessAbstract
Objective To assess salivary stress biomarkers (cortisol and α-amylase) and female fecundity. Design Prospective cohort design. Setting United Kingdom. Patient(s) 274 women aged 18 to 40 years who were attempting pregnancy. Intervention(s) Observation for six cycles or until pregnancy: women collected basal saliva samples on day 6 of each cycle, and used fertility monitors to identify ovulation and pregnancy test kits for pregnancy detection. Main outcome measure(s) Salivary cortisol (μg/dL) and α-amylase (U/mL) concentration measurements; fecundity measured by time-to-pregnancy and the probability of pregnancy during the fertile window as estimated from discrete-time survival and Bayesian modeling techniques, respectively. Result(s) Alpha-amylase but not cortisol concentrations were negatively associated with fecundity in the first cycle (fecundity odds ratio=0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.67, 1.09) after adjusting for the couples' ages, intercourse frequency, and alcohol consumption. Statistically significant reductions in the probability of conception across the fertile window during the first cycle attempting pregnancy were observed for women whose salivary concentrations of α-amylase were in the upper quartiles in comparison with women in the lower quartiles (highest posterior density: -0.284; 95% interval -0.540, -0.029). Conclusion(s) Stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window, possibly exerting its effect through the sympathetic medullar pathway.
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“Moreover, stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window [89].”
From Stress and the HPA Axis: Balancing Homeostasis and Fertility. (2017) · cites this paper as [89]
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Cites
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“(33) observed 76 participants who contributed 857 a-amylase measurements during the course of the day and reported a marked diurnal profile that was unrelated to perceived stress.”
BackgroundInfluentialHuman salivary alpha-amylase reactivity in a psychosocial stress paradigm
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“Both cortisol and a-amylase have been demonstrated to be valid markers of perceived psychosocial stress (14, 15), and the lack of correlation between these markers is indicative of their separate pathways (16).”
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Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well‐Being Contributes to Health and Longevity
Diener, E., & Chan, M. Y. (2011) · Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x · Cited by 2,260
Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility
Sharma, R. K., Biedenharn, K. R., Fedor, J., & Agarwal, A. K. (2013) · Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology · doi:10.1186/1477-7827-11-66 · Cited by 868
Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity
Diener, E., & Chan, M. Y. (2010) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e675972011-001 · Cited by 727
Stress and the HPA Axis: Balancing Homeostasis and Fertility.
Joseph, D., & Whirledge, S. (2017) · International journal of molecular sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms18102224 · Cited by 290
“Moreover, stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window [89].”
BackgroundSleep, sleep disturbance, and fertility in women
Kloss, J. D., Perlis, M. L., Zamzow, J. A., Culnan, E., & Gracia, C. R. (2014) · Sleep Medicine Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2014.10.005 · Cited by 228
Metadata
- Authors
- Buck Louis, G. M., Lum, K. J., Sundaram, R., Chen, Z., Kim, S., Lynch, C. D., Schisterman, E. F., & Pyper, C.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Venue
- Fertility and Sterility
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-06
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 2184-2189
- ISSN
- 0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2975045
- OpenAlex
- W2001105792
- Cited by
- 189
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 11.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Keywords
- stress, fecundity, salivary cortisol, salivary amylase, time to pregnancy, fertile window, ovulation, sympathetic nervous system, female fertility
- MeSH terms
- Adult, alpha-Amylases, Bayes Theorem, Female, Fertility, United Kingdom, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Infertility, Female, Ovarian Function Tests, Ovulation, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Tests, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Saliva, Stress, Psychological, Biomarkers, Chi-Square Distribution, Proportional Hazards Models, Odds Ratio, Risk Assessment, Pregnancy Rate, Young Adult
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