As per the outcomes of a study issued in the The Journal of Pain, dysmenorrhea may considered as a common risk factor for the development of chronic pain development in menstruating women.

A better understanding of link between dysmenorrhea, higher pain sensitivity, and functional neuroimaging patterns in accordance with chronic pain can help prevent chronic pain.

About 874 women aged 25-74 years were examined to find the link between the development of dysmenorrhea and chronic pain for the period of a 10-years. The lifestyle, sociodemographic and psychosocial features were adjusted.

Self-reported dysmenorrhea was linked with a 41% higher risk of chronic pain development in the women who were menstruating at starting point. Aditionally, the women suffering from dysmenorrhea witnessed chronic pain in other body areas (≥3 regions versus 1-2 regions vs none) and felt greater pain interference (high-interference versus low-interference versus none). No evidence of a possible link between their dysmenorrhea history and subsequent chances of chronic pain development was found in women who had ceased menstruation at the starting of the study.