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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 20 2020, @10:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-many-september-births-are-christmas-presents? dept.

Late Fall May Be Best Time of Year to Try to Conceive:

The first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, finds that, although couples in North America and Denmark are most likely to start trying in September, it's in late November and early December that they have the best chances of conceiving, especially at lower latitudes.

"There are a lot of studies out there that look at seasonal patterns in births, but these studies don't take into account when couples start trying, how long they take to conceive, or how long their pregnancies last," says study lead author Amelia Wesselink, postdoctoral associate in epidemiology.

"After accounting for seasonal patterns in when couples start trying to conceive, we found a decline in fecundability in the late spring and a peak in the late fall," she says. ("Fecundability" refers to the odds of conceiving within one menstrual cycle.) "Interestingly, the association was stronger among couples living at lower latitudes."

[...] season affected fecundability for North Americans by 16 percent, while Danes got only an 8-percent seasonal boost in the fall and dip in the spring. In Southern US states, the seasonal variation was even stronger, at 45 percent, with a peak in quick conceptions in late November. Meanwhile, the relationship between season and fecundability turned out to be about the same in Denmark and in Northern states and Canada.

The study used data on 14,331 pregnancy-planning women who had been trying to conceive for no more than six months, including 5,827 US and Canadian participants in the SPH-based Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO) and 8,504 Danish participants in the Snart Gravid and Snart Foraeldre studies based at Aarhus University in Denmark. These studies follow women with detailed surveys every two months until they either conceive or have tried to conceive for 12 menstrual cycles, gathering data on everything from intercourse frequency and menstruation, to smoking and diet, to education and income.

[...] "Although this study cannot identify the reasons for seasonal variation in fertility, we are interested in exploring several hypotheses on seasonally-varying factors and how they affect fertility, including meteorological variables such as temperature and humidity, vitamin D exposure, and environmental exposures such as air pollution," Wesselink says.

Journal Reference:
Amelia K Wesselink, et al. Seasonal patterns in fecundability in North America and Denmark: a preconception cohort study. Human Reproduction, 2020; DOI: 10.1093/humrep/dez265


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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday February 20 2020, @03:28PM (5 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 20 2020, @03:28PM (#960300) Journal

    To Conceive is to form an idea in your mind. Sometimes these are bad ideas (for boys to think about women's parts), or sometimes good ideas (to learn more about how a stork is selected at the new baby center to bring a new baby to married couple's front door). Boys may be naturally curious about sex, but not if you sit down with them and patiently explain to them how a women's vagina is lined with two rows of razor sharp teeth, capable of biting off a child's hand!

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 20 2020, @06:32PM (4 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday February 20 2020, @06:32PM (#960389) Journal

    Dude, whatever you get up to with consenting adults is all good but leave the children out of it!

    • (Score: 4, Touché) by DannyB on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:14PM (3 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:14PM (#960448) Journal

      That's the idea. Don't tell the childrens anything about it. They should not know anything about it. Yet adults are supposed to have somehow mysteriously acquired this knowledge about how their bodies work.

      Yet to hear some congress critters (won't mention which party) talk about how, when raped, a woman's body just 'shuts down' and doesn't get pregnant, I have to seriously doubt that these supposed adults actually understand anything about how bodies work. Which makes them very qualified to legislate. Just as you should not understand tech in order to write tech legislation.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:42PM (2 children)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:42PM (#960454) Journal

        Pretty sure they're gonna catch on once they're wrist deep!

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 20 2020, @10:48PM (1 child)

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 20 2020, @10:48PM (#960471) Journal

          Unnamed former Alaska governor's daughter: "Mom! I'm pregnant again! Why does this keep happening to me?"

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          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
          • (Score: 1) by Kitsune008 on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:09PM

            by Kitsune008 (9054) on Thursday February 20 2020, @11:09PM (#960490)

            Ahem...I think the jokes write themselves with the bunch you seem to be referring to.
            It's like dynamiting fish in a rain barrel, or swatting flies with an RPG-7, you know, punching down. ;-)

            Carry on, you are doing entertaining work, while pointing out the absurdity displayed. *tips hat*

            While I might not always agree with your comments, I DO appreciate your style, truly. :-)