Menstrual Type, Pain and Psychological Distress in Adult Women with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)

We evaluated the effects of menstrual types inclusive of PMS on reports of chronic pain intensity and psychopathology in twenty-eight women (mean age 38.93 ± 13.51) with Sickle Cell disease (SCD).

Using the Menstrual Symptoms Questionnaire, we compared women with PMS to those with less distressing spasmodic cycle types.

Thirty-four percent of the sample used oral contraception; there were no significant effects of birth control use on reports of pain. Women with PMS characterized the sensory (p = .04) and affective (p = .04) experiences of their SCD-related chronic pain, including their current pain intensity (p = .03), as significantly greater than women with primary spasmodic menstrual type. Further, there was a trend towards significance for women with PMS to report greater levels of overall pain intensity (p = .07) and average pain intensity over the past month (p = .08).

The authors interpret these results to suggest that there may be a complex interaction of neurohormonal, biological, and psychological factors associated with PMS that influence manifestation and experience of chronic pain in patients with SCD.