Observational studyFertility and sterility2017
Partnered sexual activity moderates menstrual cycle-related changes in inflammation markers in healthy women: an exploratory observational study.
Observational study in Fertility and sterility, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Do inflammation and relational motivation coordinate having better sex? The interplay between C-reactive protein and relational approach motivation on sexual well-being.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Sexual violence history predicts changes in vaginal immune parameters during sexual arousal.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2022Article
- The Role of Salivary C-Reactive Protein in Systemic and Oral Disorders: A Systematic Review.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2022Review
- Putative Mental, Physical, and Social Mechanisms of Hormonal Influences on Postpartum Sexuality.Current sexual health reports · 2021Article
- Inflammation Predicts Sexual Arousability in Healthy Women.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Oxygen saturation during sleep as a predictor of inflammation in anovulatory women.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2021Article
- Is Premenstrual Syndrome Associated with Inflammation, Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Status? A Systematic Review of Case-Control and Cross-Sectional Studies.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2021Article
- Neuroimmunology of the female brain across the lifespan: Plasticity to psychopathology.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2019Review
- Physiological predictors of leptin vary during menses and ovulation in healthy women.Reproductive biology · 2018Article
- Testosterone and immune-reproductive tradeoffs in healthy women.Hormones and behavior · 2017Article
- Interaction of menstrual cycle phase and sexual activity predicts mucosal and systemic humoral immunity in healthy women.Physiology & behavior · 2015Article
- Sexual activity modulates shifts in TH1/TH2 cytokine profile across the menstrual cycle: an observational study.Fertility and sterility · 2015Observational
- Interactions Among Sexual Activity, Menstrual Cycle Phase, and Immune Function in Healthy Women.Journal of sex researchArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine differences in inflammation markers in sexually active versus abstinent women and observe changes in inflammation markers across the menstrual cycle. Cycle-related immune fluctuations may have evolved to reduce interference with conception. If so, reproductively active (i.e., sexually active) women should show the most variability in cytokine expression.
designParticipants provided serum samples at menses and ovulation (from which cytokines were assayed) and saliva samples at menses and during follicular, ovulation, and luteal phases (from which C-reactive protein [CRP] was assayed). Participants self-reported intercourse frequency during the study.
settingAcademic research laboratory. PATIENT(S): Thirty-two healthy, naturally cycling premenopausal women (sexually active, n = 15; abstinent, n = 17). INTERVENTION(S): Observational study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Levels of proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 [IL-6], interferon γ [IFN-γ], tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α]), an anti-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-4 [IL-4]), and a marker of total inflammation (CRP). RESULT(S): Sexually active women had higher levels of all of the immune markers measured, including both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, than abstinent women. Relative to sexually active women, abstinent women had less change across the menstrual cycle in levels of CRP. Among sexually active women, higher intercourse frequency predicted greater midcycle decreases in CRP, IL-6, and IFN-γ and midcycle increases in IL-4. CONCLUSION(S): Sexual activity may stimulate a complex interaction between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines that subsequently drives midcycle declines in inflammation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.