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A Scottish postal survey suggested that the prevailing clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of reported symptoms and problems

A Scottish postal survey suggested that the prevailing clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of reported symptoms and problems
A Scottish postal survey suggested that the prevailing clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of reported symptoms and problems
Objective: to determine the prevalence of self-reported menstrual symptoms and problem periods and explore their relationship with sociodemographic factors, parity, long-standing illness, and hormonal contraceptive use.

Study design and setting: postal questionnaire survey of 4,610 women aged 25–44 registered with 19 general practices in Lothian, Scotland.

Results: among menstruating women, 30% reported heavy periods, a further 5% very heavy periods and 15% severe period pain. Although 39% of women reported either heaviness or pain or both, only 22% reported their periods as a marked or severe problem. Multivariate logistic regression showed that reporting problem periods was associated with long-standing illness, heaviness of bleeding, menstrual pain and inversely associated with hormonal contraceptive use. Reporting problem periods was strongly associated with severe pain (OR = 21, 95% CI = 15–28) and with very heavy loss (OR = 14, 95% CI = 8.0–24).

Conclusions: reporting heavy or painful periods was common but reporting problem periods was less so. Reporting severe pain was at least as strongly associated with problem periods as very heavy periods and severe pain affected many more women than very heavy periods. Therefore the clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of menstrual symptoms or problem
1206-1210
Santer, Miriam
3ce7e832-31eb-4d27-9876-3a1cd7f381dc
Warner, Pamela
4765f826-6e09-4838-bb0c-f1f2a9a33017
Wyke, Sally
ad68c72b-485d-48c4-b083-4eb59e09c79a
Santer, Miriam
3ce7e832-31eb-4d27-9876-3a1cd7f381dc
Warner, Pamela
4765f826-6e09-4838-bb0c-f1f2a9a33017
Wyke, Sally
ad68c72b-485d-48c4-b083-4eb59e09c79a

Santer, Miriam, Warner, Pamela and Wyke, Sally (2005) A Scottish postal survey suggested that the prevailing clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of reported symptoms and problems. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 58 (11), 1206-1210. (doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.02.026). (PMID:16223665)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: to determine the prevalence of self-reported menstrual symptoms and problem periods and explore their relationship with sociodemographic factors, parity, long-standing illness, and hormonal contraceptive use.

Study design and setting: postal questionnaire survey of 4,610 women aged 25–44 registered with 19 general practices in Lothian, Scotland.

Results: among menstruating women, 30% reported heavy periods, a further 5% very heavy periods and 15% severe period pain. Although 39% of women reported either heaviness or pain or both, only 22% reported their periods as a marked or severe problem. Multivariate logistic regression showed that reporting problem periods was associated with long-standing illness, heaviness of bleeding, menstrual pain and inversely associated with hormonal contraceptive use. Reporting problem periods was strongly associated with severe pain (OR = 21, 95% CI = 15–28) and with very heavy loss (OR = 14, 95% CI = 8.0–24).

Conclusions: reporting heavy or painful periods was common but reporting problem periods was less so. Reporting severe pain was at least as strongly associated with problem periods as very heavy periods and severe pain affected many more women than very heavy periods. Therefore the clinical preoccupation with heavy periods does not reflect the epidemiology of menstrual symptoms or problem

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More information

Published date: November 2005
Organisations: Primary Care & Population Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 353436
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/353436
PURE UUID: 2c786cfd-5484-432b-9516-0a50831e621d
ORCID for Miriam Santer: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7264-5260

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 06 Jun 2013 10:21
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:34

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Contributors

Author: Miriam Santer ORCID iD
Author: Pamela Warner
Author: Sally Wyke

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