As per a cross-sectional study published in the February issue of 'Journal of Women's Health', the acute vaso-occlusive pain is temporally connected with the onset of menstruation that women with sickle cell disease (SCD) can distinguish from dysmenorrhea.

The acute vaso-occlusive pain episodes in SCD lead to increased rates of hospitalization and early mortality. Women are reported to experience higher rates of acute vaso-occlusive pain compared to men. Sharma D et al. tested the hypothesis that there is an association between acute vaso-occlusive pain and the onset of menstruation in women with SCD.

A questionnaire with measures to calculate SCD pain frequency and severity in addition to menstrual symptoms was administered to 103 participants. Cross-confirmation of the results was done by using same questionnaire to a replica group of 118 participants online. Out of 29 participants who described vaso-occlusive pain having an association with menstruation, 90% (26) fulfilled the criteria for dysmenorrheal, whereas 10% (3) did not. This study resulted in 28% (29 out of 103)patients who reported association between onset of menstruation and acute vaso-occlusive pain. Out of these 29 participants, 90% (26) and 10% (3) did and did not fulfil the criteria for dysmenorrhea. In the replica group, 36% (43 out of 118) of the patients recognized association of acute vaso-occlusive pain with menstruation out of which 60% (26) meet the criteria for dysmenorrhea.

These results established the association of vaso-occlusive pain with menstruation onset in women with SCD.