Pandemic-related stress disrupted women’s periods: study

The far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still coming into focus.

The emergence of this deadly disease has been taxing on us all, but a new study shows that the stress related to the pandemic has caused changes in women’s periods, too.

Research published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology looked at how pandemic-related stress affected women’s menstrual cycles, by analyzing data from 354 women between the ages of 18 and 45 using non-hormonal birth control.

Participants took an online survey answering questions about stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as self-reported menstrual changes between March 2020 and May 2021, such as changes in cycle length, duration, flow and frequency of spotting in between cycles.

Results showed that more than half of the women who participated had at least one change in their menstrual cycles since March 2020, even after adjusting for outside factors such as age, smoking history, obesity, education and mental health history. Some women with the highest stress levels due to the pandemic experienced changes in all four categories. 

Younger women and those with a greater history of mental health conditions reported higher stress levels, according to the study.

The study also noted that the group of participants were neither menopausal nor postmenopausal before the pandemic. But, similar to the effects of “the change” in women, stress can allow for the body to change how it produces estrogen and progesterone — two hormones involved in a women’s period.

“In the United States, women have shouldered more childcare duties during the pandemic and find COVID-19-induced changes to daily activities, along with the potential risk of COVID-19 illness, significantly more stressful than men,” the study explained.

The report furthermore urged public health officials to consider the association between pandemic-related stress and changes in the menstrual cycle as it’s “frequently an indicator of women’s overall well-being.”

The study’s lead researcher, Martina Anto-Ocrah, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told the Washington Post that the results were “alarming.”

“Women are constantly being told, ‘This is in your head,’” Anto-Ocrah said. “Until we get some data to show that what is in women’s heads is actually the truth, the medical society kind of turns us away and doesn’t believe it.”