People who have heavy periods may be more at risk of heart disease, a new study has found.
Heavy periods, or heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB), is where someone has excessive blood loss during menstruation, which can affect physical, mental, and social well-being and quality of life.
It also adds a financial burden for people who seek treatment, or even to manage excessive bleeding through buying additional tampons and pads.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes conditions such as strokes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmias and heart attacks.
Researchers found a link between the two after analysing women who had been hospitalised in the US between 18 and 70 years old in 2017.
Out of the 2,430,851 hospitalisations looked at, HMB was found in 7,762 women below the age of 40 and 11,164 women above the age of 40.
The researchers found the number of women who were obese, used contraceptives, had PCOS, were infertile and were anaemic was higher in the HMB group than those in the regular cycle group.
They also found that among the hospitalisations of women who were under 40 years old, there was a significant association between HMB and the increased likelihood of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers suggest this may be because HMB could reduce the amount of iron in the blood, which may impede oxygen transfer and alter heart function.
However, for women over 40, the results did not show any strong associations between HMB and cardiovascular disease.
HMB without irregular periods were related to diabetes, heart failure and arrhythmias.
The researchers wrote: ‘Most of the CVD outcomes remained significantly associated with HMB even after additionally accounting for individual components of metabolic syndrome, insulin use, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, infertility, and anaemia among hospitalisations of young women.’
The researchers said that HMB should be diagnosed early and managed to help women manage any long-term effects. Those who have HMB are often anaemic and experience exhaustion, headaches, and discomfort.
According to NHS Inform, around one in three UK women describe their periods as heavy, and at least one in 20 women speak to their doctor every year about the problem.
They say that any future research should consider the age of onset of the periods and evaluate its long-term influence on cardiovascular disease outcomes.
The study is published in the British Medical Journal.
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