Video

Overview: The Association of Menstrual Cycle Regularity, Length With Cardiovascular Diseases

Michael J. Bloch, MD
 

In this video, Michael J. Bloch, MD, reviews and discusses a recently published study on the association of menstrual cycle regularity and length with cardiovascular diseases, including how the results impact clinical practice. This is part 1 of a 3-part discussion series on oral contraceptives in women and cardiovascular disease.

Additional Resource:

  • Huang C, Lin B, Yuan Y, et al. Associations of menstrual cycle regularity and length with cardiovascular diseases: a prospective study from UK Biobank. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023;12(11):e029020. doi:10.1161/JAHA.122.029020

Watch part 2 of this 3-part series here.

Watch part 3 of this 3-part series here.

Michael J. Bloch, MD

Michael J. Bloch, MD, is an associate professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, the medical director of vascular care at the Renown Institute for Heart and Vascular Health, and the President of Blue Spruce Medical Consultants, PLLC (Reno, NV).

 

TRANSCRIPTION:

Dr Michael J Bloch: Hello. My name is Dr Michael Bloch. I'm a Vascular Medicine Specialist from Reno, Nevada.

As a former women's health initiative investigator, I'm very interested in unique cardiovascular risk factors among women, and it's with that background in mind, that this new study that was just published in the Journal of American Heart Association really caught my eye. This is an observational study from the UK Biobank, which is a very large repository, where we get a lot of great observational studies from.

And this particular study looked at the association of menstrual cycle irregularity and the subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease. It was a robust study that included about 58,000 women who had no cardiovascular disease at baseline and reported their menstrual cycle regularity and length. After about 12 years, it did look like an irregular menstrual cycle, either long or short, was associated with a modest increase risk in the risk of cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation. And that did appear to be independent of other cardiovascular risk factors.

So, it's a very interesting study in a subsequent posting, I'm going to go into the study results and methodology a little bit more at length.

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