May 15, 2024

Does COVID-19 Vaccination Cause Menstrual Changes? New Research Says No

A Swedish study of almost 3 million females found no significant proof linking COVID-19 vaccination to an increased risk of menstrual changes or bleeding disorders. The research study acknowledged irregular and weak connections between vaccination and postmenopausal bleeding, but these associations were further decreased after considering other aspects.
Specialists state it is unlikely that there is a causal impact, according to findings based upon the data of practically 3 million women.
A Swedish research study, just recently released in the journal The BMJ, involving near to 3 million females, indicated no strong evidence of increased danger of menstrual changes following COVID-19 vaccination.
The study highlighted that the relationship in between postmenopausal bleeding and the COVID-19 vaccine was weak and inconsistent. The link in between menstrual disruption and premenstrual bleeding and the vaccine was even less consistent.
These findings do not provide any significant assistance for a causal association between covid-19 vaccination and medical diagnoses associated with menstrual or bleeding disorders, say the researchers.

Lots of ladies have actually reported changes to their durations after a covid-19 vaccination, such as the variety of days they bleed and the heaviness of the circulation. Self-reporting might record occasions that usually would not lead to a health care contact but might still be sufficiently troubling to be relevant for the affected women. But computing the strength of a prospective association based on self-reports can be unreliable.
To resolve this, scientists in Sweden drew on premium health pc registry data to examine the threats of menstrual disruption and bleeding after covid-19 vaccination in 2,946,448 females aged 12-74 years from December 2020 to February 2022.
Contact with health care included main care gos to, professional outpatient visits, and days of health center stay related to menstrual disturbance or bleeding before or after menopause.
Risks were assessed by the vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Oxford-AstraZeneca) and dose (first and unvaccinated, second, and third dosage) over 2 time windows (1-7 days, considered the control period, and 8-90 days).
In the main analysis, more than 2.5 million (88%) of females gotten at least one covid-19 vaccination and over 1.6 million (64%) of vaccinated ladies received three doses throughout the research study period.
The greatest threats for bleeding in postmenopausal ladies were seen after the third dosage in the 1-7 days danger window (28%) and in the 8-90 days danger window (25%).
Changing for socioeconomic aspects, previous health care usage, and for several specific medical conditions had only a modest effect on these outcomes.
Analyses of individual vaccines and threat of postmenopausal bleeding suggested a 23-33% increased threat after 8-90 days with Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna after the third dose, however a less clear association with Oxford-AstraZeneca.
In premenopausal females, weak associations were discovered for menstrual disruption or bleeding after vaccination with any dosage (13% or 8% after 1-7 days and 6% or 1% after 8-90 days, respectively). However, adjusting for other aspects almost entirely got rid of these weak associations, suggesting that a causal result is not likely.
These are observational findings and the authors indicate numerous restrictions, including the reality that the time between beginning, start of signs, and date of healthcare contact might be significant, making the interpretation of the effect of different danger windows challenging.
This was a large research study with near complete follow-up, utilizing compulsory data from across the country registers.
As such, they state: “We observed inconsistent and weak associations in between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and health care contacts for postmenopausal bleeding, and even less consistent for menstrual disturbance, and premenstrual bleeding.”
They add: “These findings do not provide any substantial assistance for a causal association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and health care contacts related to bleeding or menstrual disorders.”
Referral: “Association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and health care contacts for menstrual disruption and bleeding in women before and after menopause: across the country, register based accomplice study” by Rickard Ljung, YiYi Xu, Anders Sundström, Susannah Leach, Ebba Hallberg, Maria Bygdell, Maria Larsson, Veronica Arthurson, Magnus Gisslén, Rolf Gedeborg and Fredrik Nyberg, 3 May 2023, The BMJ.DOI: 10.1136/ bmj-2023-074778.
The study was moneyed by the SciLifeLab National Covid-19 Research Program, financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and the Swedish Research Council.