study
Corona vaccination can cause increased menstrual bleeding
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As early as 2021, some women complained on the Internet about increased and/or delayed menstrual bleeding after the corona vaccination. A study now confirms this side effect.
Now it’s official, so to speak: After many women reported on the Internet in 2021 that their menstrual cycle had changed after a corona vaccination, a study has now examined the phenomenon – and confirmed it in many cases. According to the research, published in the journal Science Advances, of 39,129 menstruating people surveyed, up to 42 percent suffered from increased and/or altered menstrual bleeding after the vaccination.
Annoying but harmless?
The researchers led by course director Katharine Lee interviewed both women and trans people over the age of 18 who had been vaccinated twice. Among those affected were women who no longer had regular bleeding due to menopause or medication. In such cases one speaks of so-called breakthrough bleeding. However, the altered menstrual period is not immediately dangerous – and in most cases it has normalized again some time after the vaccination.
The menstrual cycle was disrupted not declared as a possible side effect of the vaccination by the vaccine manufacturers or the regulatory authorities, which is why people with breakthrough bleeding may have experienced stress or anxiety as a result. The authors of the study suspect that the reason for this is that possible side effects were primarily looked at in the first seven days after the vaccination. However, the cycle changes came later.
‘In general, changes in menstrual bleeding are neither unusual nor dangerous, but it is necessary to draw attention to these experiences in order to increase confidence in medicine,’ the researchers said in the article. Like previous studies, the current study again has the Fear dispelled that the vaccination could affect fertility or childbearing capacity.
Why did the vaccination change my menstrual period?
Why menstruation has become heavier and/or at different times cannot be clearly clarified by the study. But: The Professional Association of Gynecologists eV points out that “temporary individual changes in the female cycle as a reaction to factors such as infections or immune reactions are not unusual”. “The immune system and the endocrine system are closely linked.” An infection with Covid-19 could therefore have similar effects.
According to the study, there is more no relevant connection between the use of certain vaccines and a change in menstrual bleeding. According to the data, most respondents were vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine from BionTech or Moderna.
Sources: Professional Association of Gynecologists (under: Frauenaerzte-im-Netz), mdr.de, swr.de