The Association between Heavy Menstrual Bleeding and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents
Authors: Sarkar Sanila , Benjamins Laura , Kazzaz Sudad , Menon Neethu M 
Published: November 2021

Introduction: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is a type of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) that affects 30% of women of reproductive age and up to 40% of adolescents. Furthermore, 10-40% of adolescents with HMB have an underlying inherited bleeding disorder like von Willebrand disease or platelet dysfunction, requiring management by pediatric hematologists. HMB has been described as more than 80 ml of blood loss during one cycle and clinically, it is defined by several parameters such as the length of each cycle, severity of soaking through pads or tampons, size of clots passed and pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBAC) score. Studies in adult women show a significant impact of HMB on their psychosocial and financial health. However, little is known about the psychological effects of HMB in adolescent females. In the adolescent population, depression is twice as common in females as it is in males, likely due to a combination of biological and social differences. In this study, we examine the association between heavy menstrual bleeding and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective records review of adolescent females aged 10-21 years that were seen as new patients at the Adolescent Medicine and Young Women's Bleeding Disorders clinics at our institution between January 1, 2018 and March 31, 2020. Patients were included in the study if they had started menses, and had a doumented menstrual history as well as a completed Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a validated screening tool for depression.Patients with a severe underlying chronic medical disorder (Including but not limited to end stage renal disease, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, severe eating disorder, previously diagnosed bipolar disorder or psychotic disorders) were excluded. HMB was determined by either a PBAC score of &gt;100 or the presence of two or more of the following criteria:

Menses lasting &gt;7days

Soaking through pad or tampon &lt;1hr

Soaking through bed clothes or changing pads at night

Passing large clots

Low ferritin &lt; 15ng/ml (indicative of low iron stores)

Anemia with Hemoglobin &lt; 12g/dl not due to any other cause (e.g. dietary, immunosuppression, medication induced)

Depression was determined by a PHQ-9 score of 9 or greater. The two variables were dichotomized, and a chi-square test of independence was performed to test the association with a significance level of p &lt; 0.05.

Results: A total of 203 records were reviewed after meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age was 15.94 years (median 16, mode 16) with a range of 12-20years. 42 girls (20.7%) had a PHQ-9 score of &gt;9 and 52 (25.6%) had HMB. Eighteen of the 42 patients (42.8%) with elevated PHQ-9 score had HMB and 34/52 patients (65.3%) with HMB had an elevated PHQ-9 score. Pearson's chi-square test of independence showed a significant relation between HMB and PHQ-9 score of 9 or more with χ 2 (1, n=203) = 8.2618, p = 0.004. After the application of Yates correction, the result was still significant with χ 2 = 7.1603 and p = 0.007.

Discussion and Conclusions: This study shows a significant association in the adolescent population between heavy menstrual bleeding and moderate or severe depression as defined by the presence of a PHQ-9 score of 9 or more. This retrospective analysis does not establish causation, but demonstrates a clinically noteworthy finding that has not been described before. The PHQ-9 is used widely across this population to screen for depression, but it is also important to screen young women aged 10-21years for HMB as a contributing factor to depression followed by timely and appropriate management of both problems. Additionally, it may be worthwhile to evaluate all young women with HMB through additional methods to diagnose depression as this patient population appears to be at higher risk. Future prospective studies are needed to better characterize this association.

Disclosures

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.