EPH85 A Cross- Sectional Assessment of Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine on Menstrual Cycle of Pharmacy and Medical Students of Qassim University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

To determine the relationship between the COVID-19 vaccine and the menstruation and to determine the factors associated with menstrual abnormalities after COVID-19 Vaccine. Female students from the Unaizah College of Pharmacy and Medicine at Qassim University who were over the age of menarche, had received the vaccine, were not pregnant or nursing, were not using contraceptives, did not have a history of primary ovarian insufficiency, hypothalamic menopause, or had undergone a hysterectomy were invited to participate. A universal sampling method was used to collect the data using an online method. Consequently, a total of 299 enrolled students participated in the survey. Out of 329 registered students, 299 agreed to participate, giving a response rate of 90.88%. The mean age of the participants was 22.1 ± 1.70, majority were unmarried (n=255; 85.3%) and were from PharmD (n=206; 69.8%). A total of 70(26.1%) reported to have COVID-19 infection. About 258(86.2 %) reported menstrual symptoms post-vaccination, of which 108(41.8%) reported irregular, 94(36.4 %)length of menstruation changed, for 56(21.7%) mensuration completely stopped. Only 16(6.20%) required a hospital visit to resolve post COVID vaccination menstrual symptoms. Previous COVID 19 infection significantly influenced the incidence of mensural abnormalities (p=0.03). After the second dose of the vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech (91.3%) followed by Johnson and Johnson (66.7%), there were significant variations in the menstrual abnormalities across different vaccination types (p = 0.014). The study showed a possible link between the COVID-19 vaccine and menstrual abnormalities which needs further investigation regarding its impact on their quality of life.