title: Screening of von Willebrand disease in Iranian women with menorrhagia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Menorrhagia is a common health problem in women, particularly those with bleeding disorders. Little is known about the course of menorrhagia or other bleeding symptoms in women with the most common congenital bleeding disorder, von Willebrand disease (vWD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of vWD in women with diagnosed menorrhagia.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, a total of 460 consecutive patients, presenting menorrhagia, were analyzed. The initial screening and confirmation tests for the diagnosis of vWD included determination of prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), bleeding time (BT), fibrinogen, factor VIII, vWF antigen, and vWF activity. A questionnaire was filled for every patient. The data were then analyzed using the SPSS software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of our patients was 32.5 ± 10.6 years. The level of von Willebrand factor in 22.5% and von Willebrand activity in 19.6% of patients was abnormal. The prevalence of vWD among patients with menorrhagia was 24%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of vWD among our patients was the same as other previous reports, suggesting low awareness about this disease and under diagnosis of mild cases.
authors.affiliation: Research center of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding, Semnan University of Medical Science , Semnan , IR Iran.
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rahbar
authors.affiliation: Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faranoush
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Social Determinants of Health, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Raheb
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Research center of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding, Semnan University of Medical Science , Semnan , IR Iran.
authors.forename: Bahare
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sadr Alsadat
keywords: Menorrhagia; Von Willebrand Disease; Von Willebrand Factor