Considerations on pathophysiology of primary dysmenorrhea under the light of alterations in complete blood count parameters

Abstract

The present study strives to evaluate how the components of complete blood count are altered in women with primary dysmenorrhea. This is a cross-sectional analysis of 155 women with primary dysmenorrhea and 155 women without dysmenorrhea. The primary dysmenorrhea and control groups were matched with respect to age and body mass index. When compared with the controls, the women with primary dysmenorrhea had a significantly younger menarche age, longer menstrual duration, higher leukocyte counts, higher neutrophil counts, and elevated MPV values (p=0.010, p=0.022, p=0.014, p=0.011 and p=0.04 respectively). The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that women with primary dysmenorrhea were more likely to have a younger menarche age (OR=2.14, 95% CI=0.971-3.346, p=0.018), longer menstrual duration (OR=1.91, 95% CI=0.988-2.308, p=0.044), higher leukocyte counts (OR= 2.90, 95% CI=1.040-3.788, p=0.007), and elevated MPV values (OR=3.17, 95% CI=2.056-9.128, p=0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of this model were 84.6% and 77.3%, respectively. Leukocytosis and increased MPV are might be associated with the inflammatory and vasoconstrictory pathogenesis of primary dysmenorrhea, but this result should be confirmed in the future researches.