Development of a brief menstrual quality of life measure for women with heavy menstrual bleeding

Lancastle, Deborah; Kallner, Helena Kopp; Hale, Gabrielle; Wood, Bethan; Ashcroft, Lauren; Driscoll, Holly

doi:10.1186/s12905-023-02235-0

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The questionnaires generally asked respondents to note how many days their menses/ bleeding episodes last on average, either in general or in the last three months. Three instruments specifically asked if respondents had bleeding for more than seven days per month [72][73][74]. Finally, the diary asked respondents to note if they had bleeding on specific days [75].…”

Section: Bleeding Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of changes to the menstrual cycle: A transdisciplinary systematic review evaluating measure quality and utility for clinical trials

Mackenzie,

Chung,

Hoppes

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Despite the importance of menstruation and the menstrual cycle to health, human rights, and sociocultural and economic wellbeing, the study of menstrual health suffers from a lack of funding, and research remains fractured across many disciplines. We sought to systematically review approaches to measure four aspects of changes to the menstrual cycle—bleeding, blood, pain, and perceptions— caused by any source and used in any field. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and four instrument databases and included peer-reviewed articles published between 2006 and 2023 that reported on the development or validation of instruments assessing menstrual changes using quantitative or mixed-methods methodology. We evaluated instruments on measure quality and utility for clinical trials. From a total of 8,490 articles, 8,316 were excluded (i.e., 376 duplicates, 7,704 during title/abstract screening, and 236 during full text review), yielding 94 instruments from 174 included articles. Almost half of articles were from the United States or United Kingdom and over half of instruments were only in English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese. Most instruments measured bleeding, pain, or perceptions, but few assessed blood. Nearly 60% of instruments were developed for populations with menstrual or gynecologic disorders or symptoms. Most instruments had fair or good measure quality and/or clinical trial utility; however, most instruments lacked evidence on responsiveness, question sensitivity and/or transferability, and only three instruments had good scores of both quality and utility. Although we took a novel, broad, and transdisciplinary approach, our systematic review found important gaps in the literature and instrument landscape and a need to examine the menstrual cycle in a more comprehensive, inclusive, and standardized way. Our findings can inform the development of new or modified instruments, which—if used across the many fields that study menstrual health—can contribute to a more systemic and holistic understanding of menstruation and the menstrual cycle.

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Section: Bleeding Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of changes to the menstrual cycle: A transdisciplinary systematic review evaluating measure quality and utility for clinical trials

Mackenzie,

Chung,

Hoppes

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…As time progressed, a consequent study that was conducted in 2021 revealed that vaginal bleeding was also commonly reported, with a high prevalence of 89% [16]. Although intermenstrual and post-coital bleedings are common symptoms of cervical cancer, they may also be associated with benign conditions such as polyps, uterine fibroids, ovulatory or endometrialrelated disorders, birth control, sexually transmitted infections, or trauma [22,23]. Postmenopausal bleeding, however, is a symptom of concern because it requires extensive investigation to exclude potential malignancy [22].…”

Section: Symptoms Of Cervical Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Postmenopausal bleeding, however, is a symptom of concern because it requires extensive investigation to exclude potential malignancy [22]. In women experiencing heavy bleeding (menorrhagia) with concomitant pain, significantly reduced QoL is observed, which shows how the aforementioned symptoms can impact overall physical, social, and psychological well-being [23]. In a recent study analysing the QoL in women with menstrual bleeding (HMB), the authors of the study developed a reliable tool, the "PERIOD-QOL" online questionnaire, assessing QoL in this group of patients.…”

Section: Symptoms Of Cervical Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a recent study analysing the QoL in women with menstrual bleeding (HMB), the authors of the study developed a reliable tool, the "PERIOD-QOL" online questionnaire, assessing QoL in this group of patients. The study enlightened the significance of HMB and revealed that despite experiencing these stressful symptoms, women can still be reluctant to seek medical help, worrying that people might think they are making an unnecessary fuss about a natural part of womanhood [23].…”

Section: Symptoms Of Cervical Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

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The management of vaginal bleeding in advanced cervical cancer

Olejniczak,

Zasowska-Nowak

2023

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Cervical cancer is the fourth most diagnosed malignancy worldwide. This narrative review aimed to assess various treatment methods for reducing or completely stopping vaginal bleeding, which is one of the most common and alarming complaints reported by women with cervical cancer. The treatment of bleeding depends on its intensity, potential causes (reversible and irreversible), stage of the disease, and prognosis. In advanced-stage patients receiving palliative care, interventional methods such as embolization or surgical ligation of internal iliac vessels, or epigastric or uterine arteries are usually not possible due to the patient's poor general condition. The treatment of choice is conservative therapy, which includes the performance of vaginal tamponade (usually using sterile gauze, haemostatic gauze, or cellulose sponges), the use of anti-haemorrhagic drugs (tranexamic acid, vitamin K), and, in selected clinical situations, palliative radiotherapy. The literature on the subject points to reports on the effectiveness of topical 4% formalin solution, Mohs paste, Monsel's solution, thrombin, or epinephrine in inhibiting vaginal bleeding. However, these are not supported by data from randomized clinical trials. Data available in databases on the alleviation of cervical vaginal bleeding are limited, so there is a need for further clinical research on this topic.

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“…In addition, in most cases, the question is asked without specific criteria about menorrhagia. Therefore, many patients are often unable to give a clear answer [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Patients’ Self-Judgement, Coagulated Menstrual Blood, and Menorrhagia: Results from a Questionnaire Survey and Blood Test Analysis

et al. 2023

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Background and Objectives: Menorrhagia is defined as a blood loss of more than 80 mL, which is significant enough to cause anemia. Previously known methods for evaluating menorrhagia, such as the alkalin-hematin method, pictograms, and measuring the weight of sanitary products, were all impractical, complex, and time-consuming. Therefore, this study aimed to determine which item among menstrual history taking was most associated with menorrhagia and devised a simple evaluating method for menorrhagia through history taking that can be applied clinically. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted from June 2019 to December 2021. A survey was conducted on premenopausal women who underwent outpatient treatment or surgery and those who underwent a gynecologic screening test, and their blood tests were analyzed. The presence of iron deficiency anemia was identified with a Hb level of less than 10 g/dL with microcytic hypochromic anemia on a complete blood count performed within one month of the survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted on six items related to menorrhagia to investigate whether each item was related to “significant menorrhagia”. Results: There were 301 participants in the survey during the period. In univariate analysis, the results revealed a statistically significant association between significant menorrhagia and the following items: self-judgement of menorrhagia; menstruation lasting over 7 days; total pad counts in a single menstrual period; Number of sanitary products changed per day; and leakaging of menstrual blood and presence of coagulated menstrual blood. In multivariate analysis, only the “self-judgement of menorrhagia” item showed a statistically significant result (p-value = 0.035; an odds ratio = 2.217). When the “self-judgement of menorrhagia” item was excluded, the “passage of clots larger than one inch in diameter” item showed a statistically significant result (p-value = 0.023; an odds ratio = 2.113). Conclusions: “Patient self-judgement of menorrhagia” is a reliable item for evaluating menorrhagia. Among several symptoms indicating menorrhagia, determining the presence of the “passage of clots larger than one inch in diameter” during the menstrual period is the most useful item for evaluating menorrhagia in clinical history taking. This study suggested using these simple menstrual history taking items to evaluate menorrhagia in real clinical practice.

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Development of a brief menstrual quality of life measure for women with heavy menstrual bleeding

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Measurement of changes to the menstrual cycle: A transdisciplinary systematic review evaluating measure quality and utility for clinical trials

Measurement of changes to the menstrual cycle: A transdisciplinary systematic review evaluating measure quality and utility for clinical trials

The management of vaginal bleeding in advanced cervical cancer

Association between Patients’ Self-Judgement, Coagulated Menstrual Blood, and Menorrhagia: Results from a Questionnaire Survey and Blood Test Analysis

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