Fertility link to Circadian Rhythm

Scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois have gone a step further to working out why epidemiological studies of female shift workers have reported increased rates of reproductive abnormalities and adverse pregnancy outcomes.  Testing mice with a disruption of their circadian rhythms, they discovered a dramatically reduced pregnancy success, compared to the control group.  The good news is that the effect is reversible, so if this study can be extrapolated to female shift workers who are having trouble falling pregnant, once they revert to a ‘normal’ circadian clock there chances should improve.

PLoS ONE is an open access journal, so you can access the full text from their site.  Summa KC, Vitaterna MH, Turek FW (2012) Environmental Perturbation of the Circadian Clock Disrupts Pregnancy in the Mouse. PLoS ONE 7(5): e37668. doi:10.1371