Doctor calls for more studies to find out if COVID-19 vaccines can cause period changes

Doctors have called for more studies to find out whether or not COVID-19 vaccines cause period changes after thousands of women report irregular menstrual cycles after injections.

Dr Victoria Male, senior lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, said last year’s clinical trials should have looked for abnormal periods.

At least 6,000 women in the United States report that their period came sooner than usual, felt heavier, or just seemed irregular after the vaccination.

In addition, more than 35,000 women in Britain have complained of irregular periods after being bitten.

Authorities have yet to confirm that there is a link between the injections and an irregular cycle, but Male said the uterus has a lining with a high number of immune cells, which are likely activated by the vaccine and cause irregular bleeding.

She added that investigating such a link could help prepare women for the possibility of irregular cycles and increase confidence in strokes.

“Young women’s reluctance to vaccines is largely driven by false claims that COVID-19 vaccines could harm their chances of future pregnancy,” Male wrote in The BMJ.

“Failure to thoroughly investigate reports of menstrual changes after vaccination is likely to fuel these fears.”

“We see an association but it is not necessarily a causation … Here we have the opportunity to study a problem of women’s health”, Dr Cynthia Brincat, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Rush University Medical Center , in Chicago, Illinois, told DailyMail.com.

“We are looking at something that has a huge impact on the lives of women. We welcome any opportunity to do so.

According to a DailyMail.com analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine adverse event reporting system, there have been at least 6047 reports of American women reporting abnormal menstrual cycles.

However, this is likely a serious undercoverage, as many women with abnormal periods will not report it to the CDC.

The most common complaint is heavy menstrual bleeding, with 2,571 women reporting this symptom on Thursday.

Other frequent reports include irregular periods, breakthrough bleeding, delayed menstruation, and abnormal uterine bleeding.

However, some women have experienced less common symptoms, including an anovulatory cycle, which is when an egg is not released from the ovaries or superovulation, which occurs when a woman releases more. one egg per month.

Previously, CDC officials had said none of the reports gave cause for concern.

“At this time, the CDC sees no safety issues that warrant additional monitoring for irregular menstrual symptoms reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System,” said Martha Sharan, head of public affairs for the CDC’s vaccine task force in an email to the Chicago Tribune.

She added that the reports represent “a very small number” of the more than 300 doses administered in the United States.

However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded grants to five universities earlier this month to study whether or not there is a link between the abnormal periods and the COVID-19 vaccine.

The five studies will likely recruit between 400,000 and 500,000 participants, including adolescents, transgender women, and non-binary people.

According to the NIH, there are several factors by which vaccinations against Covid can cause temporary changes in the menstrual cycle.

This includes stress from the pandemic, lifestyle changes, and even a previous infection with COVID-19.

The NIH also suggests that the immune system’s response to the COVID-19 vaccine may briefly affect communication between immune cells and the uterus.

Gynecologists previously told DailyMail.com that post-vaccination cycle changes can occur – but are rare, usually go away on their own within a month and without medication, and don’t affect fertility.

In the UK, more than 35,000 women have reported to the country’s Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency’s yellow card program that they suffered irregular cycles after being vaccinated.

Dr Jackie Maybin, a consulting gynecologist and senior clinical researcher at the University of Edinburgh, said other vaccines, such as the HPV vaccine, are known to disrupt periods without noticeable impact on fertility.

“At this stage, it is difficult to be certain of the mechanisms at the origin of these effects. It can differ from person to person, ”she said in a statement to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Maybin also suggested that stress plays a role – explaining that when the body is stressed, it prevents pregnancy from conserving energy.

Brincat also said that historically stress has been shown to impact women’s health with other medications such as chemotherapy.

“We are also in a pandemic and there could be other changes such as the loss of a job, supply chain issues that cause stress levels to change.”

Maybin says COVID-19 can cause a change in stress levels by stimulating immune cells.

“This effect in the brain may explain some of the changes in menstruation seen during the pandemic, with Covid or with vaccination,” she said.

She added, “The resulting inflammation can temporarily affect the ovaries, altering their hormone production over one or two cycles, leading to irregular or heavier menstrual bleeding.

“Inflammation can also temporarily change the way the lining of the uterus breaks down and sheds, causing a heavier period.

“These effects could cause temporary changes in menstrual symptoms which should go away on their own.”

Brincat said if a menstruating patient came to tell her about irregular cycles after receiving the vaccine, she would say the following “

“I would say first:”.

“The second thing I would say is, ‘Let’s look at this and investigate. You deserve an investigation. “