The menstrual cycle and sexual relations in users of the IUD and periodic abstinence
Rojas, O.L.
Acta Medica del Valle 8(1): 19-25
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0044-6017 PMID: 12229773 Document Number: 337282
A prospective survey was carried between January 1974 and February 1975 among 31 fertile women with a previous history of at least 1 normal term delivery who were using IUD. 65 women using natural family planning (NFP) served as the control group and had similar age and fertility characteristics. 198 cycles corresponded with the users of NFP as compared to 112 in the IUD users. The mean of sexual intercourse in the ovulatory phase was significantly higher than that of the preovulatory phase in IUD cases. Among NFP users, coital frequency was similar during both the preovulatory and postovulatory phases. The hyperthermic phase measured from the basal body temperature (BBT) chart lasted 13.585 days in the IUD users as compared with 12.622 in users of NFP (p0.01). The preovulatory phase in IUD users was 16.95 days as compared with 14.27 days in NFP users (P0.001). Related to the BBT chart, we found that in 64% of all cases of NFP women, the BBT pattern did drop on the 1st menses day as compared with 65% of all cases of IUD women whose BBT charts did not show a drop on that day (P0.001). The findings about sexual activity (increased libido associated with the ovulatory period) among IUD users concur with the opinion of several authors. Changes in the duration of the preovulatory and postovulatory phases suggest endocrine changes in IUD cases. The pattern of BBT drop suggest the possibility of higher proportions of early pregnancy losses among IUD users. (author's)