How will female sterilisation affect my periods?

;U.S. Collaborative Review of Sterilization Working Group.

Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, USA.

Background:

The existence of a post-tubal-ligation syndrome of menstrual abnormalities has been debated for decades. We used data from the U.S. Collaborative Review of Sterilization to determine whether the likelihood of persistent menstrual abnormalities was greater among women who had undergone tubal sterilization than among women who had not.

Methods:

A total of 9514 women who underwent tubal sterilization and 573 women whose partners underwent vasectomy were followed in a multicenter, prospective cohort study for up to five years by means of annual telephone interviews. All women were asked the same questions about six characteristics of their menstrual cycles in the presterilization and follow-up interviews. Multiple logistic-regression analysis was used to assess the risk of persistent menstrual changes.

Results:

The women who had undergone sterilization were no more likely than those who had not undergone the procedure to report persistent changes in intermenstrual bleeding or the length of the menstrual cycle. They were more likely to have decreases in the number of days of bleeding (odds ratio, 2.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 5.2), the amount of bleeding (odds ratio, 1.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 2.0), and menstrual pain (odds ratio, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.8) and to have an increase in cycle irregularity (odds ratio, 1.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 2.3). Among women who had had very heavy bleeding at base line, women who had undergone sterilization were more likely than women who had not undergone the procedure to report decreased bleeding (45 percent vs. 33 percent, P=0.03).

Conclusions:

Women who have undergone tubal sterilization are no more likely than other women to have menstrual abnormalities.

Please click on the required question.

• 1 Who can be sterilised?
• 2 What does female sterilisation involve?
• 3 How failsafe is female sterilisation?
• 4 How quickly does female sterilisation work?
• 5 How will I feel after laparoscopic sterilisation?
• 6 What are the risks of female sterilisation?
• 7 What effect will female sterilisation have on my periods?
• 8 Is my partner's consent required before I am sterilised?
• 9 My family is complete and I want to stop taking the pill but my periods were previously heavy. What are my options?
• 10 What is a vasectomy?
• 11 What are the risks of vasectomy.?
• 12 How effective is vasectomy?
• 13 How do vasectomy and female sterilisation compare?
• 14 Which of us should be sterilised?
• 15 Is it possible for my sterilisation to be reversed?
• 16 Support Groups.
• 17 Are there any support groups?

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