Cerebral vein thrombosis in women using short course oral contraceptive consumption

BACKGROUND 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. OBJECTIVE This work studies the incidence of CVT and its relation to Ramadan. MATERIALS AND METHODS 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. RESULTS 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). CONCLUSION 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.