Development of a brief menstrual quality of life measure for women with heavy menstrual bleeding

BACKGROUND: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advises that considerations around quality of life should be made when assessing and treating heavy menstrual bleeding. A quick and reliable method for women to assess the impact of HMB on their quality of life might encourage help-seeking. This research aimed to develop a new 10-item measure of menstrual quality of life (the PERIOD-QOL). METHODS: Three pilot studies describe PERIOD-QOL development and a cross-sectional survey (N = 376) assessed PERIOD-QOL scores in women who reported HMB and those who did not. A population sample of women (mean age 30.29, SD = 9.06) completed the PERIOD-QOL and rated their menstrual bleeding as heavy/very heavy/extremely heavy (HMB group) or very light/light/moderate bleeding (LMMB) group. Data were analysed using independent samples Analysis of Variance and independent samples t-tests. RESULTS: Cronbach’s Alpha for the PERIOD-QOL = .88. A significant reduction in PERIOD-QOL scores was found across the 6 levels of bleeding from very light to extremely heavy, and significantly lower PERIOD-QOL scores were reported in the HMB than the LMMB group. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the PERIOD-QOL is a reliable measure and that women experiencing HMB reported significantly lower menstrual quality of life than those who did not. Further validation of the PERIOD-QOL is required to determine its relationships with existing measures of menstrual quality of life and to establish whether PERIOD-QOL scores are associated with decisions to seek help from health professionals and with verified diagnoses of conditions that cause HMB.