Work has progressed in several areas: (1) the development of improved statistical methods for analyzing hormone data across the menstrual cycle in relation to characteristics of the woman and menstrual cycle; (2) the development of improved methods for assessing the relationship between hormone trajectories and pregnancy outcomes; (3) the development of methods for searching for optimal rules for timing intercourse to achieve conception using data on timing in the cycle and vaginal secretions; and (4) application of these methods to data from an Italian multi-center fecundability study collecting detailed records for women in natural family planning centers. We found that data on progesterone levels following ovulation are highly predictive of early pregnancy loss and that the shape of the trajectory can be used to predict risk of early loss soon after implantation. We have also found that simple rules based on timing of intercourse on days in a mid-cycle window having particular types of secretions can substantially reduce time to conception, reducing need for assisted reproductive intervention with associated costs and health risks.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01ES040011-09
Application #
7734424
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$84,263
Indirect Cost
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Scarpa, Bruno; Dunson, David B; Giacchi, Elena (2007) Bayesian selection of optimal rules for timing intercourse to conceive by using calendar and mucus. Fertil Steril 88:915-24
Stanford, Joseph B; Dunson, David B (2007) Effects of sexual intercourse patterns in time to pregnancy studies. Am J Epidemiol 165:1088-95
Bigelow, Jamie L; Dunson, David B (2007) Bayesian adaptive regression splines for hierarchical data. Biometrics 63:724-32
Scarpa, Bruno; Dunson, David B (2007) Bayesian methods for searching for optimal rules for timing intercourse to achieve pregnancy. Stat Med 26:1920-36
Stanford, Joseph B; Dunson, David B (2006) Foreword. Expanding Methodologies for Capturing Day-Specific Probabilities of Conception. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 20 Suppl 1:1-2
Scarpa, Bruno; Dunson, David B; Colombo, Bernardo (2006) Cervical mucus secretions on the day of intercourse: an accurate marker of highly fertile days. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 125:72-8
Scarpa, Bruno; Dunson, David B (2006) Bayesian selection of predictors of conception probabilities across the menstrual cycle. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 20 Suppl 1:30-7
Dunson, David B; Bigelow, Jamie L; Colombo, Bernardo (2005) Reduced fertilization rates in older men when cervical mucus is suboptimal. Obstet Gynecol 105:788-93
Dunson, David B; Stanford, Joseph B (2005) Bayesian inferences on predictors of conception probabilities. Biometrics 61:126-33
Longnecker, Matthew P (2005) Invited Commentary: Why DDT matters now. Am J Epidemiol 162:726-8

Showing the most recent 10 out of 25 publications