Sexual Intercourse and Vaginal Absorption of Progesterone

Summary

The objective of this project is to compare the vaginal absorption of progesterone administered in the vaginal ovum by measuring progesteroneemia in 3 situations (or "sexual event"): abstinence, sex protected by condoms and unprotected sex.

Timeline

Start

2022-04-13

Primary completion

2024-02-05

Completion

2024-02-29

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper The linear mixed model showed no significant effect for condom use to affect the variation in progesterone levels (P = 0.08). PMID 41285092 ↗

Publications

• Background Alsbjerg B, Thomsen L, Elbaek HO, Laursen R, Povlsen BB, Haahr T, Humaidan P. Progesterone levels on pregnancy test day after hormone replacement therapy-cryopreserved embryo transfer cycles and related reproductive outcomes. Reprod Biomed Online. 2018 Nov;37(5):641-647. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2018.08.022. Epub 2018 Oct 6.
• Background Cicinelli E, de Ziegler D, Bulletti C, Matteo MG, Schonauer LM, Galantino P. Direct transport of progesterone from vagina to uterus. Obstet Gynecol. 2000 Mar;95(3):403-6. doi: 10.1016/s0029-7844(99)00542-6.
• Background Cedrin-Durnerin I, Isnard T, Mahdjoub S, Sonigo C, Seroka A, Comtet M, Herbemont C, Sifer C, Grynberg M. Serum progesterone concentration and live birth rate in frozen-thawed embryo transfers with hormonally prepared endometrium. Reprod Biomed Online. 2019 Mar;38(3):472-480. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2018.11.026. Epub 2019 Jan 5.
• Background Gaggiotti-Marre S, Martinez F, Coll L, Garcia S, Alvarez M, Parriego M, Barri PN, Polyzos N, Coroleu B. Low serum progesterone the day prior to frozen embryo transfer of euploid embryos is associated with significant reduction in live birth rates. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2019 May;35(5):439-442. doi: 10.1080/09513590.2018.1534952. Epub 2018 Dec 26.
• Background Hussain A, Ahsan F. The vagina as a route for systemic drug delivery. J Control Release. 2005 Mar 21;103(2):301-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2004.11.034. Epub 2005 Jan 13.
• Background Labarta E, Mariani G, Holtmann N, Celada P, Remohi J, Bosch E. Low serum progesterone on the day of embryo transfer is associated with a diminished ongoing pregnancy rate in oocyte donation cycles after artificial endometrial preparation: a prospective study. Hum Reprod. 2017 Dec 1;32(12):2437-2442. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dex316.
• Background Merriam KS, Leake KA, Elliot M, Matthews ML, Usadi RS, Hurst BS. Sexual absorption of vaginal progesterone: a randomized control trial. Int J Endocrinol. 2015;2015:685281. doi: 10.1155/2015/685281. Epub 2015 Feb 3.
• Background Sator M, Radicioni M, Cometti B, Loprete L, Leuratti C, Schmidl D, Garhofer G. Pharmacokinetics and safety profile of a novel progesterone aqueous formulation administered by the s.c. route. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2013 Mar;29(3):205-8. doi: 10.3109/09513590.2012.736560. Epub 2012 Nov 6.
• Background van der Linden M, Buckingham K, Farquhar C, Kremer JA, Metwally M. Luteal phase support for assisted reproduction cycles. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Jul 7;2015(7):CD009154. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009154.pub3.
• Background Yovich JL, Conceicao JL, Stanger JD, Hinchliffe PM, Keane KN. Mid-luteal serum progesterone concentrations govern implantation rates for cryopreserved embryo transfers conducted under hormone replacement. Reprod Biomed Online. 2015 Aug;31(2):180-91. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.05.005. Epub 2015 May 18.
• Ranisavljevic N, Rolland A, Picot MC, Lotierzo M, Herman F, Duraes M, Brouillet S, Anahory T. Sexual intercourse and vaginal absorption of progesterone (SexVAP): a cross-over randomized prospective pilot study. Reprod Biomed Online. 2026 Jan;52(1):105166. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105166. Epub 2025 Jul 18.

Drugs

Indications