von Willebrand disease in women with menorrhagia: a systematic review.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of von Willebrand disease in women presenting with menorrhagia.


METHODS
Systematic review of studies evaluating the prevalence of von Willebrand disease in women with menorrhagia.


METHODS
Hospital outpatient clinics (mainly gynaecological) and population surveys.


METHODS
Women presenting with menorrhagia.


METHODS
Relevant studies were extracted from MEDLINE search, bibliographies of identified articles and published proceedings of meetings and conferences.


METHODS
Number of women with von Willebrand disease.


RESULTS
Eleven studies were included, totalling 988 women with menorrhagia. One hundred and thirty-one women were diagnosed to have von Willebrand disease with prevalences in individual studies ranging from 5% to 24%. The overall prevalence was 13% (95% CI 11-15.6%). The prevalence was higher in the European studies-18% (95% CI 15-23%) compared with that in North American studies-10% (95% CI 7.5-13%). This difference (P= 0.007) is likely to be the result of differences in the studies, which include method of recruitment of study population, method of assessing menstrual blood loss ethnic composition of study population, criteria for diagnosis and use of race- and ABO blood group-specific values for von Willebrand factor.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of von Willebrand disease is increased in women with menorrhagia and is the underlying cause in a small but significant group of women with menorrhagia across the world. Testing for this disorder should be considered when investigating women with menorrhagia, especially those of Caucasian origin, those with no obvious pelvic pathology or with additional bleeding symptoms.
Shankar
Meena
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK.
Lee
Christine A
CA
Sabin
Caroline A
CA
Economides
Demetrios L
DL
Kadir
Rezan A
RA
D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D014842:von Willebrand Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology