A team of Franco-British researchers has established a link between the COVID LONG and the disruption of the menstrual cycle.
Women with long covid are subject to more abundant, longer rules and more frequent bleeding between cycles. In parallel, symptoms of the disease – such as fatigue, headache and muscle pain – intensify during the premenstrual and follicular phases of the cycle in these same patients. This relationship «Bidirectional» Between Long Covid and menstrual disorders has just been confirmed by a Franco-British team.
According to their study, published in ” Nature Communications “On September 16, 2025,” An inflammatory reaction is suspected of being at the origin of this link ”after discovery “Clusters of immune cells in the endometrium” Patients followed for COVID LONG. On the other hand, “No anomaly of ovarian hormones has been detected “, Insist researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford and Montpellier.
During and after the COVVI-19 epidemic, a number of women had alerted to the disruption of their menstrual cycle. As early as 2021, 33.8 % of patients with long covid, followed as part of an international cohort, reported disorders of the menstrual cycle. A Spanish study of 2022 also showed that women with the long form of the disease had a higher risk of menstrual cycle disorders compared to those who have not had the COVVI-19 or the acute form of the disease. Following these results, the Franco-British study combined three approaches to confirm the existence of such a link: a survey conducted with 12,187 British women, the follow-up of 54 women with long covid for three months, and the analysis of blood and endometrial samples.
The long covid affecting women twice as much as men among the 3 to 7 % of patients around the world, this discovery could, hope for researchers, have an important scope. First consequence: disruption of the menstrual cycle should be an additional biological marker to diagnose the long covid in women. Second consequence : “This unprecedented study opens up new therapeutic perspectives” For women with Long Cavid, whose management requires a multidisciplinary approach.
