Abstract
Objectives:To investigate the prevalence and impacts of heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) on anemia, fatigue, and the quality of life (QoL) in women of reproductive age.Methods:This study was conducted among 306 women of reproductive age who presented at the internal medicine outpatient departments of the training and research hospital of a university. The data of the study were collected by the “Data collection form”, “SF-36 Quality of Life Scale (SF-36 QoLS)” and “Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI)”.Results:The prevalence of HMB in women of reproductive age was 37.9%. The ferritin level and physical functions were found to decrease significantly as the duration of menstruation increased (p<0.05). Besides, a positive but very weak relationship was found between the menstruation duration and the subdimensions of the global BFI and the general health perception subscale of the SF-36 QoLS (p<0.05).Conclusion:It was determined that HMB is common and has negative effects on anemia, fatigue and some subdimensions of the QoL. Regular screening for HMB that may not be expressed by many women may therefore be useful in preventing and resolving the health problems that it will cause.
Highlights
heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) has been objectively described as “the loss of 80 ml or more blood during every menstrual cycle” in the 1960s.1 This definition has been changed by the NICE in the United Kingdom in 2007 to “excessive menstrual blood loss that physically, emotionally, socially and financially affects the quality of life (QoL) of women and can be seen by itself or with other symptoms” to include the above definition.[2]
We found that 24.1% of the women perceived the bleeding they experienced during menstruation as heavy or very heavy (Table-I)
There is no previous study on the prevalence of HMB in women of reproductive age in our country, but the prevalence of HMB was 21.8% in a study conducted on university students.[9]
Summary
HMB has been objectively described as “the loss of 80 ml or more blood during every menstrual cycle” in the 1960s.1 This definition has been changed by the NICE in the United Kingdom in 2007 to “excessive menstrual blood loss that physically, emotionally, socially and financially affects the QoL of women and can be seen by itself or with other symptoms” to include the above definition.[2]. HMB has been objectively described as “the loss of 80 ml or more blood during every menstrual cycle” in the 1960s.1. This definition has been changed by the NICE in the United Kingdom in 2007 to “excessive menstrual blood loss that physically, emotionally, socially and financially affects the QoL of women and can be seen by itself or with other symptoms” to include the above definition.[2] Reported HMB prevalence in women varies between 27.2% and 54.0%3-9, making it a common disorder. HMB has been shown to have negative effects on the psychological state, energy, work productivity, social relationships, family life and sexual functions of women.[4,11,12] Besides, the excessive blood loss
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