Stress and reproductive failure: an evolutionary approach with applications to premature labor.

Abstract

This article takes an evolutionary approach to the study of reproductive failure, drawing attention to the importance of reproductive failure among mammals as a means of timing reproduction in response to a variable environment. These concepts also apply to the diagnosis and treatment of prematurity, because before the advent of modern medicine most premature births probably constituted failed reproduction. Problems in the diagnosis and treatment of reproductive failure are described, with specific parallels drawn between the diagnoses and treatments of infertility and prematurity.