Impact of COVID-19 on Menstrual Cycle Pattern

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is continuously exerting a significant effect on health care systems globally, causing extreme mortality and morbidity. As time passes our knowledge about this novel respiratory virus increase, it is clearly that its effects go behind that of the respiratory system. In recent years, there have been many reports; that there are a considerable menstrual changes in females infected with COVID-19. Data regarding the effect of COVID-19 on reproductive outcomes is limited, conflicting and only few reports from the literature reported the association between COVID-19 infection and menstrual cycle disturbances and fertility. Some studies have reported the effects of COVID-19 on fertility and menstrual cycles, but the results remain inconclusive. The aim of this study was to see if infection with COVID-19 had impacted cycle pattern in a group of young female studying at college of medicine/second stage. Method: This retrospective cross sectional study was performed on female volunteers of university medical college students; all were second stage (n = 200), who were invited to fill-out the study questionnaire programmed in a google form. Results: Twenty eight percent of case group had irregular cycle after infection which was significant different from those who didn’t get the infection (p<0.05). The relative risk of irregular cycle of participants in case group who were admitted to the hospital is higher when compared with those who did not need hospitalization (odds ratio = 3.76, CI; (1.29-10.97). More over the relative risk of irregularity increased in patients who needed CPAP at admission (Odds ratio =6.01; CI (1.56-13.17). Conclusion: this study revealed that COVID-19 infection could affect the menstrual cycle for the studied females. Further prospective studies should be done to confirm these findings and evaluate how long these menstrual irregularities lasted.