Does hepatitis B cause irregular menstrual cycles?

I have had hep B likely since birth, and as a preteen/teenager, my menstrual cycle was extremely irregular. I know that a lot of young girls have irregular cycles for the first 1-2 years, but mine was like that for 6+ years. What I mean is that it was infrequent, maybe 6-8 times per year, but also very irregular — I would get it a few months in a row, and then I wouldn’t get it again for 3 months.

While I know that a lot of things can cause irregular menstrual cycles, the interesting thing for me was that everything started to regulate and become much more manageable after I started antiviral treatment. I’m not sure if that’s just a coincidence, or if it’s a plausible explanation. I’ve heard of endocrine dysfunction happening alongside cirrhosis, but I didn’t/don’t have cirrhosis. I came to find out recently that my liver enzymes were slightly elevated for the majority of the time when I was not on treatment (but they were not elevated enough to qualify me for treatment at the time).

Has anyone heard of this happening before?

Hi @anonymous100,

Thanks for the interesting question. I don’t think I’ve seen any reports about changes in menstrual cycle due to Hepatitis B in the scientific literature. Have any @HealthExperts heard about this?

Cheers,

Thomas

Hi @ anonymous 100

Your concern about HBV with irregular menstruation. Prevalence of menstrual problems in women with child bearing age globally is about 30-70% that may be from low BMI , age and stress etc. Currently, there’s no evidence based that HBV causes menstrual problems. However, previous study ( Valiaveettil C et al PLoS ONE 2019 ) has been found that women living with HIV and HBV coinfection may have higher menstrual abnormalities rate which maybe due to decreasing levels of FSH and LH hormones and increased levels of prolactin hormone. So I think it may be co incidence more than causal and relationship . I hope this may help you.

Chulapong Chanta MD. Pediatrics

chul_chan

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