Recognition of ovulatory/anovulatory cycle pattern in adolescents by mucus self-detection

The high frequency of anovulation during adolescence raises the question of whether a method for the recognition of ovulation by self-detection of cervical mucus patterns is useful in teenagers. We performed a secondary analysis of 1049 completely recorded cycles of 235 teen women 15-17 years of age with a gynecologic age from less than 1 to 7 years. These subjects had learned to monitor their fertility patterns using the Billings Ovulation Method. The cycles were analyzed by the length of the mucus and luteal phases and recorded "peak symptom." Ovulatory cycles were grouped by the length of the luteal phase, short (4-8 days) and average (8-18 days), and plotted against gynecologic age. The frequency of anovulatory cycles was comparable to Vollman's age-stratified monophasic cycle groups. Ovulatory patterns were found at gynecologic ages of 1 year, 49%; 2 years, 60%; 3 years, 72%; 4 years, 61%; 5 years, 86%; and 6 years, 71%. The study proved that teen-age women can distinguish patterns of ovulation and anovulation by self-detection of cervical mucus.