An old-school fertility tracking method could help GPs’ patients double their chance of falling pregnant, according to University of Queensland researchers.

The researchers followed 384 women for up to two years after they attended a Billings Ovulation Method clinic to determine the effectiveness of monitoring cervical mucous and timing intercourse to achieve pregnancy.

They found 240 participants — 51% who were clinically infertile for more than 12 months — became pregnant while using the method, which relies on tracking daily vulval sensation and cervical mucous.

Further, mucous symptoms were a powerful predictor of conception, even among women over 35 and those who had been clinically infertile for more than a year, they reported in Human Fertility.