Cerebral vein thrombosis in women using short course oral contraceptive consumption

ABSTRACT

Muslim women tend to postpone their menstrual period using short course oral contraceptives [OC] during Ramadan, Muslims fasting month. Recently, many cases of stroke, particularly cerebral vein thrombosis [CVT], have been reported in Ramadan. This work studies the incidence of CVT and its relation to Ramadan. This is a cohort study conducted from October 2006 to October 2009 and included 4 consecutive Ramadan's. All patients with definite diagnosis of CVT who were referred to the neurology department of Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran in this four-year period were included in the study. During the study period, 70 cases with CVT [11 males and 59 females] were recruited. Twenty five cases were admitted during Ramadan months which was significantly higher than all the other 32 months [p=1.9×10[-7]]. The higher frequency of females [6 times more] among CVT cases probed by investigating possible risk factors and short term OC consumption was revealed as the major risk factor [p=0.00071]. Higher incidence of CVT in females during Ramadan suggests the presence of specific risk factors in this group. Our study revealed that short-term use of OCs may be a major risk factor for CVT