Extreme menstrual bleeding could worsen fatigue throughout menopause transition

Key takeaways:

• Ladies reporting irregular uterine bleeding throughout the menopause transition had been extra prone to report emotions of fatigue.
• Clinicians ought to ask midlife girls about their menstrual bleeding historical past.

Midlife girls with repeated episodes of heavy or extended menstrual bleeding over 6 months had been 40% to 60% extra prone to report feeling fatigued, underscoring the scientific significance of menstrual historical past throughout the menopause transition.

“Regardless of the elevated scientific and media consideration to menopausal signs, research of menopause have hardly ever examined the well being penalties of girls’s menopausal bleeding experiences, though as much as 30% of girls expertise important blood loss throughout menopause transition,” Siobán D. Harlow, PhD, Professor Emerita of Epidemiology and International Public Well being on the College of Michigan, instructed Healio. “This examine gives empirical proof that midlife girls who expertise extreme bleeding, each heavy and extended, have an elevated probability of feeling drained or fatigue. Though extreme menstrual bleeding can result in anemia and most girls report feeling drained or fatigued as they method menopause, so far, the affiliation between these two treatable circumstances has obtained insufficient scientific or scientific consideration.”

Researchers analyzed longitudinal each day menstrual calendar knowledge from 2,329 contributors within the Examine of Ladies’s Well being Throughout the Nation to evaluate episodes of heavy or extended menstrual bleeding. Ladies responded to questions on emotions of fatigue — described as “worn out,” feeling drained,” filled with pep” or “having vitality” — at seven annual follow-up visits. Researchers assessed the affiliation between every fatigue variable and extended or heavy menstrual bleeding recorded throughout the 6 months earlier than every follow-up go to.

The findings had been printed in Menopause.

Researchers discovered that ladies who reported three or extra episodes of heavy menstrual bleeding throughout the 6 months earlier than a follow-up go to had been 63% extra prone to report feeling drained (adjusted OR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.11-2.38) and 44% extra prone to report feeling worn out (aOR = 1.44; 95% CI, 0.98-2.13).

Ladies with three or extra episodes of extended menstrual bleeding throughout the 6 months earlier than a follow-up go to 32% much less prone to report feeling filled with pep (aOR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.95). Outcomes had been unchanged after adjusting for race, age, BMI, hormone remedy use, despair and nervousness signs, perceived stress, sleep issues or smoking.

“Ladies ought to perceive that extreme bleeding and accompanying fatigue could happen or worsen throughout the transition to menopause,” Harlow instructed Healio. “Ladies experiencing these signs can search care from a well being skilled as remedies can be found for each extreme bleeding and fatigue.”

Harlow stated the info recommend {that a} menstrual bleeding historical past is warranted for midlife girls presenting with fatigue signs. Moreover, clinicians ought to prioritize offering midlife girls with details about the probability of extreme menstrual bleeding throughout the menopause transition and out there remedies each for extreme bleeding and associated signs of fatigue.

“Extreme menstrual bleeding must be acknowledged as a symptom of menopause with necessary well being penalties,” Harlow instructed Healio. “Future research of menopause ought to systematically embrace evaluation of irregular uterine bleeding and consider its potential impression on girls’s expertise of menopause and high quality of life, in addition to on its affiliation with widespread menopausal signs together with fatigue, sleep disruptions and mind fog.”

For extra data:

Siobán D. Harlow, PhD, might be reached at harlow@umich.edu; Instagram: @umichsph.