Author(s)

Henny Anna Rie Klomp¹, Johannes Maria Gulielmus Cobben², Paul Jan Quirien van der Linden^1*

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Deventer Ziekenhuis, Deventer, The Netherlands.
²Department of Anesthesiology, Deventer Ziekenhuis, Deventer, The Netherlands.

Objective: To study whether there is a relation between the application of corticosteroids and occurrence of postmenopausal bleeding. Also we want to determine whether corticosteroids can cause an irregularity in a previously regular menstruation cycle. Design and Setting: Prospective cohort study in the department of anesthesiology. Patients: 209 women who received a single dosage of corticosteroids as treatment for pain. Interventions: None, observational cohort study; all women received standard care. Main outcome measures: Postmenopausal blood loss or disruption of menstruation cycle. Result: Postmenopausal blood loss or disruption of menstruation cycle were both more common 6 weeks after administration of corticosteroids, but were sometimes also reported 2 weeks after administration of corticosteroids. Conclusion: After administration of corticosteroids in a postmenopausal woman an episode of menstruation like bleeding can be expected. This is probably due to a transient drop of androstenedione. In premenopausal women a transient change in menstruation cycle can be observed.

Postmenopausal Bleeding, Corticosteroids, Bleeding Patterns

Klomp, H. , Cobben, J. and van der Linden, P. (2017) Postmenopausal Bleeding and Changing Bleeding Patterns after Parental Use of Corticosteroids: A Prospective Cohort Study. Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 7, 326-333. doi: 10.4236/ojog.2017.73034.