Peri-implantation intercourse does not lower fecundability

Abstract

Study question: Does sexual intercourse in the implantation time window (5-9 days after ovulation) reduce fecundability?

Summary answer: After adjustment for intercourse in the fecund window and clustering by couple, there was no association between intercourse in the implantation time window and fecundity.

What is known already: Previous research has suggested an association between intercourse in the peri-implantation time window (5-9 days after estimated ovulation) and reduced fecundability.

Study design, size, duration: We used data from the FERTILI study, a prospective observational study conducted in five European countries, with data collected from 1992 to 1996.

Participants/materials, setting, methods: Women who were experienced in fertility awareness tracking kept a daily diary of cervical mucus observations, basal body temperature measurements, coitus and clinically identified pregnancy. We estimated the day of ovulation as cycle length minus 13 days. From 661 women, 2606 cycles had intercourse during the fecund window (from 5 days before to 3 days after the estimated day of ovulation), resulting in 418 pregnancies (conception cycles). An established Bayesian fecundability model was used to estimate the fecundability ratio (FR) of peri-implantation intercourse on fecundability, while adjusting for each partner's age, prior pregnancy, the couple's probability of conception and intercourse pattern(s). We conducted sensitivity analyses estimating ovulation as cycle length minus 12 days, or alternatively, as the peak day of estrogenic cervical mucus.

Main results and the role of chance: There was no effect of peri-implantation intercourse on fecundability: adjusted FR for three or more acts of peri-implantation intercourse versus none: 1.00, 95% credible interval: 0.76-1.13. Results were essentially the same with sensitivity analyses. There was an inverse relationship between frequency of intercourse in the fecund window and intercourse in the peri-implantation window.

Limitations, reasons for caution: Women with known subfertility were excluded from this study. Many couples in the study were avoiding pregnancy during much of the study, so 61% of otherwise eligible cycles in the database were not at meaningful risk of pregnancy and did not contribute to the analysis. Some couples may not have recorded all intercourse.

Wider implications of the findings: We believe the current balance of evidence does not support a recommendation for avoiding intercourse in the peri-implantation period among couples trying to conceive.

Study funding/competing interest(s): No external funding. The authors have no potential competing interests.

Trial registration number: N/A.

Keywords: conception; day-specific probabilities of conception; fecund window; fecundability; fertile window; sexual intercourse; time to pregnancy.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Figures

Figure 1.

Cycle eligibility for analysis. The fecund window is calculated from 5 days before to 3 days after the estimated day of ovulation, which is 13 days before the last day of the cycle (or length of prior cycle).