Research question

Menstruation is a physiological event often associated with subjective distress. Is there a tool that assesses and objectively evaluates the global distress experienced by women during their period?

Design

An observational cross-sectional study conducted between June 2019 and May 2020 at Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy. A new questionnaire, The Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MEDI-Q), was developed and administered to a group of healthy women (n = 418) of fertile age (18–50 years), without known uterine, psychiatric disorders, or both. The MEDI-Q investigated 25 items, covering the following areas: pain, discomfort, psychic or cognitive changes, gastrointestinal symptoms and changes in physiological functions. MEDI-Q Total Score and the three sub-scales, Menstrual Symptoms (MS), Menstrual Symptoms Distress (MSD) and Menstrual Specificity Index (MESI) were evaluated. The validation of MEDI-Q was achieved by testing test–retest reliability and internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity.

Results

The MEDI-Q produced reliable results with good internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity. MEDI-Q Total Score, MS and MSD all positively correlated with general psychopathology and premenstrual symptoms. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the cut-off value of 20 (inclusive) and to identify the women with clinically relevant menstrual distress (area under the curve 0.90, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.93; P < 0.001).

Conclusion

MEDI-Q is a new tool for evaluating menstruation-related distress, and provides a representative score of stress perception. MEDI-Q may be added to routine women's healthcare to help identify and adequately monitor menstruation-related disorders, and their effect on wellbeing, promptly.

中文翻译：

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月经窘迫问卷（MEDI-Q）：一种评估月经相关痛苦的新工具

研究问题

月经是一种生理事件，通常与主观痛苦有关。有没有一种工具可以评估和客观评估女性在其期间所经历的全球性痛苦？

设计

2019 年 6 月至 2020 年 5 月在意大利佛罗伦萨的 Careggi 大学医院进行的一项横断面观察研究。为一组健康女性（n = 418) 的生育年龄（18-50 岁），没有已知的子宫、精神疾病或两者兼有。MEDI-Q调查了25个项目，涵盖以下领域：疼痛、不适、心理或认知变化、胃肠道症状和生理功能变化。评估了 MEDI-Q 总分和三个子量表，月经症状 (MS)、月经症状窘迫 (MSD) 和月经特异性指数 (MESI)。MEDI-Q 的验证是通过测试重测信度和内部一致性、收敛效度和同时效度来实现的。

结果

MEDI-Q 产生了可靠的结果，具有良好的内部一致性、收敛性和并发有效性。MEDI-Q总分、MS和MSD均与一般精神病理学和经前症状呈正相关。接受者操作特征分析用于确定截止值 20（含），并确定存在临床相关月经窘迫的女性（曲线下面积 0.90，95% CI 0.86 至 0.93；P < 0.001）。

结论

MEDI-Q 是一种评估与月经相关的痛苦的新工具，并提供了压力感知的代表性分数。MEDI-Q 可以添加到常规女性医疗保健中，以帮助及时识别和充分监测与月经相关的疾病及其对健康的影响。