1. Menstrual Type, Pain and Psychological Distress in Adult Women with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)
- Author
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John J. Sollers, Elwood Robinson, Jessica Miller, Nina Smith, Brianna Jones, Mary Wood, Kristen Bell, Ashely Nicole Murrill, Keith E. Whitfield, Tanisha I Burford, Christopher L. Edwards, Camela S. Barker, Goldie S. Byrd, Jessica R. Lands, Brittani Leach-Beale, Alvin Killough, and Malik Muhammad
- Subjects
Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Disease ,Anemia, Sickle Cell ,Psychological Distress ,Birth control ,Adult women ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,medicine ,Humans ,In patient ,030212 general & internal medicine ,media_common ,030505 public health ,business.industry ,Chronic pain ,Psychological distress ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Female ,Chronic Pain ,0305 other medical science ,business ,Oral contraception ,Psychopathology - Abstract
Objective 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). Methods Using the Menstrual Symptoms Questionnaire, we compared women with PMS to those with less distressing spasmodic cycle types. Results 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). Conclusions 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.
- Published
- 2019