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. 2023 Oct 20;15(10):e47360.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.47360. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Menstrual Bleeding

Mortadah Alsalman  1 , Fatimah Alhubail  1 , Fidaa Bin Obaid  1 , Ibtisam Algouf  1 , Bayan Alomair  1 , Sara Albunyan  1 , Lina AlMudayris  1 , Zaenb Alsalman  2 , Abdul Sattar Khan  2
Affiliations

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Menstrual Bleeding

Mortadah Alsalman et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: Vaccination has a fundamental role in protecting against and modifying the severity of several infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Several immune and non-immune adverse events have been reported post-COVID-19 vaccine. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the COVID-19 vaccine on women's menstrual bleeding.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 399 vaccinated women in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a direct interview-based questionnaire including four sections.

Results: A total of 399 women were recruited, with a mean age of 25.54 ± 6.177 years. More than half (53.9%) of the participants reported post-vaccination menstrual bleeding abnormality in terms of a heavy or irregular cycle. Out of the total number, 40 (21.4%) women reported having heavy menstrual flow, and 67 (16.8%) had non-menstrual bleeding after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Fully vaccinated women were at a greater risk of post-vaccination menstrual bleeding abnormality (p = 0.058). However, there was no correlation between booster shot type and menstrual bleeding abnormality (p > 0.05). In addition, there was no significant association between non-menstrual bleeding and the type of booster shot, the type of the first dose, and prior history of COVID-19 infection (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Despite vaccination being the most effective way to prevent COVID-19, it does have an impact on menstrual bleeding in terms of menorrhagia and metrorrhagia. Therefore, more studies are needed to understand the mechanism and the long-term impact of COVID-19 vaccines on the hemostatic system.

Keywords: bleeding; covid-19; menstrual abnormality; sars-cov-2; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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