title: Predictive factors for the occurrence of idiopathic menorrhagia: evidence for a hereditary trait.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to assess predictive factors for occurrence of idiopathic menorrhagia (IM), a disease characterized by abnormal endometrial blood vessel morphology. It was hypothesized that IM exhibits familial clustering (suggesting inheritance) and is associated with other vascular abnormalities, primarily cutaneous hemangiomas. Women with IM (n=152) and healthy, regularly menstruating (n=56) women answered a questionnaire concerning menstrual pattern, susceptibility to bleeding and family history of abnormal gynecological bleeding. Factor analysis with principal component extraction was used to separate predictive factors that may be associated with IM. A total of 35 different items were analyzed. A strong association was found between IM and a family history of heavy menstrual bleeding (r=0.68), but not with cutaneous vascular abnormalities. Our results revealed that a family history of heavy menstrual bleeding may have the highest predictive value for the diagnosis of IM, indicating a hereditary trait.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuzmina
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palmblad
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mints
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology