Life disruptions and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to disrupted ovulation with reduced progesterone cycle duration or levels, according to research presented Sunday at ENDO 2022, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga.
The study was the first to observe ovulatory disturbances without the disruption of the menstrual cycle during the pandemic.
These silent ovulatory disturbances likely explain why so many women not using hormonal forms of birth control have reported having early or unexpected periods in the days following a COVID-19 vaccination.”
Jerilynn C. Prior, MD, FRCPC, Professor of Endocrinology, University of British Columbia
Prior and colleagues compared two independent, similarly designed studies 13 years apart: the Menstruation Ovulation Study (MOS), conducted in a group of 301 women from 2006-2008, and MOS2, which studied 112 women during the pandemic. Both studies included menstruating women aged 19-35 years who were not taking systemic or combined hormonal contraceptives.
The first MOS was used as a control to compare with the MOS2 cohort’s experiences during the pandemic. All participants in both studies answered a comprehensive health, reproductive and lifestyle questionnaire and were asked to keep a daily diary of their menstrual cycles and general life experiences.
For MOS2, ovulation was documented using a validated quantitative basal temperature. Researchers will confirm MOS2 hormonal characteristics using salivary progesterone levels. For the MOS cohort, the researchers assessed ovulation by measuring urinary progesterone levels.
Almost two out of three women who participated in the study during COVID-19 did not ovulate normally, Prior said. The women experienced either short luteal phases, in which an egg was released without enough time from ovulation for pregnancy, or anovulation, meaning no egg was released at all.
In comparison, the MOS study found that only 10 percent of women experienced ovulatory disorders. The MOS2 and MOS studies showed similar body weights, body mass index values, and menstrual cycle and flow lengths. Thus, the women in MOS2 did not experience any obvious signs of reproductive disruption.
Menstrual cycle diary© analyzes for MOS2 showed significantly increased anxiety, depression, frustration, (overall negative moods), perceived external stress, sleep problems, and headache compared to MOS.
“By comparing the two studies, and especially their daily diaries, we can conclude that the SARS-CoV2 pandemic life disturbances cause silent ovulatory disturbances within mostly regular menstrual cycles – providing a unique experiment of nature,” said Prior.
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