relation between fluoxetine and menstrual cycle disorders

objective: to investigate the effect of fluoxetine as an ssri on menstrual disorders. materials and methods: in this cross-sectional study 200 women referring to the islamic azad university affiliated hospitals during march 2011- march 2010 were divided into 4 groups. all included patients in this study had the chief complaint of mood disorders in peri- menstrual period. all patients received daily vitamin b6 tablets as primitive treatment. in groups a, b and c patients also received daily doses of 10 mg, 20 mg and 40 mg of fluoxetine respectively for 6 months and in group d as the control group fluoxetine was not given. data were analyzed by spss18 statistical software. significant difference was set at p<0.05. results: in the groups receiving fluoxetine (groups a - c) 34 patients and in control group 5 patients showed irregular menstruation started during fluoxetine administration and following 3 months. significant difference with p<0.05 was found regarding the incidence of menstrual irregularity between groups with and without fluoxetine prescription. conclusion: fluoxetine consumption leads to increased incidence of menstrual irregularity compared to the control group. the incidence increases with increasing dosage of the drug.