Psychosocial and Other Characteristics of Women Complaining of Menorrhagia, with and Without Actual Increased Menstrual Blood Loss

Objective: To discover whether psychosocial factors can explain why many women with normal menstrual blood loss seek care for menorrhagia.

Design: Cross-sectional comparative study of women referred for menorrhagia.

Setting: Gynaecology departments of all five university teaching hospitals in Finland.

Sample: Two hundred and twenty-six women aged 35-49 years complaining of menorrhagia.

Main Outcome Measures: Several psychosocial factors, seeking medical attention, menstrual blood loss.

Results: Twenty-nine percent of the women had their menstrual blood loss in the normal range (menstrual blood loss <60 mL). By univariate analysis, unemployment, anxiety, perceived inconvenience, abdominal pain, haemoglobin level and serum ferritin concentration distinguished this group of women from those with true menorrhagia. Unemployment, perceived inconvenience, abdominal pain and serum ferritin remained significant variables by multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: A significant proportion of women with complaints of menorrhagia have their measured menstrual blood loss within the normal range. Psychosocial factors can have an impact on their seeking health care. Better understanding of the factors, which explain complaints of menorrhagia in women with normal bleeding could improve both medical outcomes and reduce the cost of treatment for menorrhagia.