Promoting awareness of neonatal menstruation

Paola Bianchi, Benagiano G, Giuseppe Benagiano, Brosens I, Ivo Brosens
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2017 · vol. 33(3) , pp. 173–178 · doi:10.1080/09513590.2016.1259408 · PMID:28079409 · W2571881054
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 16 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This review explains neonatal uterine bleeding as an indicator of fetal distress caused by progesterone resistance and its potential link to later-life conditions like endometriosis.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Neonatal uterine bleeding (NUB) has been carefully studied in the past through case reports, small series, clinical cohort studies, pathology investigations of fetal and neonatal. Following a historical recount, this review summarizes biological mechanisms conditioning NUB, starting from the persistence till birth of an 'ontogenetic progesterone resistance' (OPR), causing decreased responsiveness of target tissues to bioavailable progesterone. Several pregnancy-related conditions, such as preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, prematurity, post-maturity and even Rhesus or ABO incompatibility, influence the occurrence of NUB. It seems therefore that the phenomenon is precipitated by chronic fetal distress. When present, OPR may persists until telarche; as a consequence, if pregnancy occurs in early teenage, the disorder known as "defective deep placentation" may ensue, increasing the risk of obstetrical syndromes. In the presence of NUB, retrograde shedding into the peritoneal cavity of endometrial stem/progenitor and niche cells may occur. There, given the right environment, these cells can survive and become activated at the time of telarche, causing the specific phenotype of early-onset endometriosis. In conclusion, neonatal menstruation is a fetal distress indicator and can alter the incidence of a variety of pathological conditions later in life. For this reason, it should be carefully recorded and the parents informed.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Menstruation Disturbances Models, Biological Models, Biological Neglected Diseases Uterine Hemorrhage Age of Onset Age of Onset Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Female Female Fetal Diseases Fetal Diseases Fetal Diseases

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (24)

Cited by (16)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-20T06:13:28.455750+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:19:15.413326+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-20T06:27:24.728081+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK