Measuring Menstrual Discomfort: A Comparison of Interview and Diary Data
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Menstrual discomfort is common among women of reproductive age and can be debilitating. The accuracy of self-report of menstrual discomfort is unknown. METHODS: At enrollment into the DES Reproductive Health Study in 1990, premenopausal women classified their frequency of any menstrual discomfort as "always," "often," "sometimes," and "never." Subsequently, women provided daily diary information for up to 6 months regarding any menstrual discomfort and medication used for menstrual pain. RESULTS: A total of 324 women contributed data on 4 or more menstrual cycles in the prospective study. At enrollment, 10% had reported never having menstrual discomfort. Of these, 65% recorded at least 1 day of menstrual discomfort during follow-up. For the 27% who had reported always having discomfort, 88% recorded discomfort in all cycles. The enrollment statement of discomfort was more strongly correlated with the percentage of cycles in which women took medication for menstrual pain; respondents who said they never had menstrual discomfort reported use of pain medication in 3% of cycles; sometimes, 36%; often, 67%; and always, 92%. The average number of days per cycle with prospectively recorded menstrual discomfort was also correlated with the enrollment response. CONCLUSIONS: A single question regarding frequency of menstrual discomfort was positively correlated with prospectively recorded menstrual discomfort and especially with pain requiring medication.
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Because women with PCOS often have less frequent menstrual cycles, the symptom of dysmenorrhea could be attenuated, making it less likely to consider endometriosis as a comorbidity.
“Because women with PCOS often have less frequent menstrual cycles, the symptom of dysmenorrhea could be attenuated,47 making it less likely to consider endometriosis as a comorbidity.”
From Examining the co-occurrence of endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
The Results report that discomfort peaked on the first two days of bleeding, but do not examine whether having fewer menstrual cycles attenuates dysmenorrhea. The paper's focus is how reported discomfort compares with diary records; our copy does not address PCOS or the proposed effect of infrequent cycles (searched: PCOS, infrequent cycles, menstrual pain). The inference about considering endometriosis follows the citation and is not treated as attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Jukic, A. M. Z., Weinberg, C. R., Baird, D. D., Hornsby, P. P., & Wilcox, A. J.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jukic, Anne Marie Zaura
- Venue
- Epidemiology
- Published
- 2008-11
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 846-850
- ISSN
- 1044-3983 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2650252
- OpenAlex
- W2066221681
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (Z99-ES999999)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Menstrual Health and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Endometriosis Research and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Keywords
- menstrual discomfort, dysmenorrhea, self-report accuracy, daily diary, premenopausal women, menstrual cycle
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Dysmenorrhea, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cohort Studies
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