The pandemic paralyzed the lives of millions of people for almost two years, and had a clear emotional impact on a large part of the population. Something that was reflected, among other things, in an alteration in the menstruation of many women. Now, research presented last Sunday at ENDO 2022, the annual meeting of the Society of Endocrinology in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), has shown that these vital interruptions and the stress linked to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to disturbed ovulation in which the duration of ovulation or progesterone levels were reduced.
The study was the first to observe ovulatory disturbances without interruption of the menstrual cycle in women during the COVID pandemic. Jerilynn C. Prior, professor of endocrinology. at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, believes that “these silent ovulatory disturbances likely explain why so many women not taking hormonal contraceptive methods report having early or unexpected menstrual periods in the days following COVID vaccination. -19”.
The analyzes showed negative emotional and physical alterations (increased anxiety or sleeping difficulties) in women who had ovulatory disorders linked to the pandemic
Prior and colleagues compared two independent studies with a similar design 13 years apart: the Menstruation and Ovulation Study (MOS), conducted between 2006 and 2008 in a group of 301 women, and MOS2, which studied to 112 women during the pandemic. Both studies included menstruating women between 19 and 35 years of age, who were not taking systemic or combined hormonal contraceptives.
The first MOS was used as a control to compare it with the experiences of the MOS2 cohort during the pandemic. All participants in both studies answered a comprehensive health, reproductive and lifestyle questionnaire and were asked to keep a diary of their menstrual cycles and life experiences in general. Regarding MOS2, to document ovulation they used quantitative basal temperature measurement. Subsequently, the researchers confirmed the hormonal characteristics of MOS2 using salivary progesterone levels. For the MOS cohort, experts assessed ovulation by measuring urinary progesterone levels.
Ovulatory but not reproductive disturbances
The result showed that practically two out of three women who had participated in the study did not ovulate normally during COVID-19. Thus, women experienced short luteal phases, in which an egg was released not long enough after ovulation for pregnancy to occur, or anovulation, meaning no egg was released.
By comparison, the MOS study found that only 10% of women experienced ovulation disorders. The MOS2 and MOS studies showed similar body weights, body mass index values, and menstrual cycles and flow lengths. Therefore, females in MOS2 did not experience overt signs of reproductive impairment.
Menstrual Cycle Diary© analyzes for MOS2 showed certain negative emotional and physical disturbances, ranging from significantly increased anxiety, depression, frustration or perceived external stress, to sleep difficulties or headaches, compared to MOS.
“By comparing the two studies, and especially their diaries, we can infer that SARS-CoV2 pandemic life interruptions cause silent ovulatory disturbances within mostly regular menstrual cycles, providing a unique experiment of nature,” Prior concluded.
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