The effect of oral progesterone for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in women taking warfarin following prosthetic valve replacement

Progesterone for women on warfarin

  • Shafaq Nadeem Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology
  • Shahid Abbas Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology
  • Anjum Jalal Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology
Keywords: Abnormal Uterine Bleeding, Valve Replacement, Polymenorrhea, Warfarin induced Menorrhagia, Menorrhagia

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of oral progesterone for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in patients taking warfarin after prosthetic valve replacement.

Methods: A total of 85 women of reproductive age, who were on warfarin due to prosthetic valve replacement were enrolled in the study. After detailed evaluation, their menstrual bleeding was quantified using Pictorial Bleeding Evaluation Chart. The patients were then prescribed an oral progesterone (Norethisterone) 5 mg three times daily. The first follow up was done after one-month then at 3-months and at six months. The improvement in PBAC score was recorded at each visit. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS (version 23.0). The mean ± Standard Deviation were calculated for quantitative variables while qualitative variables were presented in frequency table. The normality of data was checked using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Due lack of normal distribution of data in various groups, the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test was used to test the significance before and after treatment. The p-value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 30.13±7.69 years. The mean PBAC score was 162.8 ± 24.86 before initiation of treatment while at the end of the treatment it was 105.48 ± 8.38. Forty-six (54.1%) patients had continuous per vaginal bleeding, 33 (38.8%) had menorrhagia, 4 (4.7%) had inter-menstrual bleeding and 2 (2.4%) had menorrhagia along with polymenorrhea. The mean dose of warfarin taken by the patients was 5.85 ± 2.69 mg. The median parity of the patients was 2. The Wilcoxon Sign Rank test showed p-value of <0.00001 for comparison of the pre-treatment PCBA values with those of one, three and six-months after the treatment. The Friedman’s test also had a p-value of <0.00001. This confirmed that the post treatment bleeding was significantly less than pretreatment bleeding.

Conclusion: The warfarin induced abnormal uterine bleeding can be controlled effectively and safely with low dose of oral progesterone.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.907

How to cite this:
Nadeem S, Abbas S, Jalal A. The effect of oral progesterone for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in women taking warfarin following prosthetic valve replacement. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(4):887-892.
doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.907

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Biographies

Shafaq Nadeem, Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology

The Clinic for Women with Cardiac Diseases, 

Department of Cardiac Surgery,

Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology, 

Faisalabad

Shahid Abbas, Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology

Associate Professor of Cardiology

Department of Cardiology

Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology,

Faisalabad

Published
2019-07-08
How to Cite
Nadeem, S., Abbas, S., & Jalal, A. (2019). The effect of oral progesterone for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding in women taking warfarin following prosthetic valve replacement: Progesterone for women on warfarin. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 35(4). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.907
Section
Original Articles