A study has shown that a female’s cardiac rate and blood pressure reaction to being administered a breathing tube during surgical procedure differs at varying times of her menstrual cycle.

Endotracheal intubation is a medical procedure that involves placing a breathing or ventilation tube inside the trachea or windpipe via the oral or nasal route. In several emergency scenarios, the tube is passed via the oral route. It is done for opening the airway for giving oxygen, medicines or delivering anesthesia and to facilitate respiration. Often it is carried out after anesthesizing the patient and when he/she has lost consciousness. Even then, introduction of the ventilation tube into the trachea is mostly associated with a surge in cardiac rate and blood pressure as the body reacts to this objectionable stimulation.

During a new-fangled research conducted by investigators from Turkey, they examined the effects of a woman’s menstrual cycle on cardiac rate and blood pressure reaction following endotracheal intubation among sixty-two females in good health. Fifty percent of the study entrants were in the follicular phase (days 1 to twelve following the onset of previous menses when hormonal levels are lesser) of the menstrual cycle. The other fifty percent of the females were in the post-ovulation phase or luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.

There was a considerable rise in cardiac rate as well as blood pressure readings in either of the study sets following endotrachial intubation.  However, on the whole, the blood pressure and cardiac rate reaction was around thirty percent more in females who were in the post-ovulation phase of their menses cycle.

Study investigators, Doctor Volkan Hanci and associates from the Turkish Univ. Zonguldak Karaelmas pointed out that the reasons for such disparities are not yet identified, however it might be because of the amplified sensitivity of the sympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system.

The research outcomes have been printed in the latest edition of the ‘Anesthesia & Analgesia’.

During a press release, the journal’s main editor, Doctor S. Shafer from the Columbia Univ. stated that the hormones governing the menstrual cycle, progesterone and estrogen have noteworthy palliative traits. Shafer further added that it is not astounding that vacillations in such hormones could be linked to varied reactions to endotracheal intubation, based on which phase of the menstrual cycle the woman is in during that time.

He laid emphasis on the point that the ideal time for undergoing surgery is soon following periods during the follicular phase.