title: Burden of menstrual symptoms in Japanese women: results from a survey-based study.
abstract: .
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Menstrual symptoms are associated with various health problems in women and may also significantly impact their lives. This study aims to assess the current burden of menstrual symptoms in Japanese women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two online surveys were conducted among women aged 15-49 years, where sampling was designed to approximate the age and geographic distribution in Japan. The first survey collected data on menstrual symptom severity based on a modified, 35-item, Japanese version of the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (mMDQ), current treatments, and impact on work productivity. The second survey collected costs of outpatient treatment within the previous 3 months. Additional outcomes of the second survey will be presented in a separate paper.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, 19,254 women had menses, with 74% suffering from menstrual symptoms. A total of 50% reported pain and 19% reported heavy bleeding. Increasing severity of menstrual symptoms and self-reported heavy bleeding were related to more outpatient visits and greater work productivity loss. Among subjects with heavy bleeding, increasing severity of symptoms was related to greater interference with daily life. The estimated annual economic burden extrapolated to the Japanese female population was 683 billion Japanese Yen (JPY) or ~8.6 billion United States Dollars (USD).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study population may be biased due to the online survey method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the authors' knowledge, this is the first large-scale research assessing outcomes by severity categories for all menstrual symptoms and women's perception of bleeding. A large proportion of women suffer from menstrual symptoms, and symptom severity impacts women's lives. Menstrual symptoms lead to significant economic burden, mainly due to work productivity loss. However, the majority of women do not visit a gynecologist, even when their menstrual symptoms are severe. Thus, increasing public awareness on the recently available medical treatments has the potential to improve the overall burden of menstrual problems.
authors.affiliation: Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Bayer Yakuhin Ltd , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Momoeda
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Osuga
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nomoto
authors.forename: Masakane
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Kinya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kokubo
authors.forename: Edward C Y
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D008599:Menstruation Disturbances / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D062072:Patient Acuity; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D055815:Young Adult