THE BLEEDING-TIME IN WOMEN - AN INFLUENCE OF THE SEX-HORMONES

A sex difference in the bleeding time has been reported. To investigat e the effects of the different sex hormones, the bleeding time (BT) an d hemostatic factors related to it were measured in 209 healthy women: 50 pregnant, 113 menstruating and 46 post-menopausal. The serum level s of estrogens, progesterone and testosterone were distributed as expe cted for the different groups. There were no significant differences i n the BT between any of the groups. No correlations between the BT and female or male sex hormones were found. The findings indicate that al though sex hormone mediated effects on platelet/endothelial cell inter actions may exist, they do not become evident within the physiological variations in the BT of healthy women.