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Presenteeism and associated factors among women with menstrual symptoms

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Menstrual characteristics can affect a woman’s productivity at work and college, but studies in a general population of adult women are scarce. In addition, it is important to know which menstrual symptoms are most associated with presenteeism in women to promote specific health actions. The present study aimed to assess menstrual symptoms associated with presenteeism in adult women.

Methods

Online cross-sectional study in which menstrual characteristics, including menstrual flow, age of menarche, menstrual pain and cycle duration were assessed by a self-report questionnaire. The menstrual pain intensity was assessed by Numerical Rating Scale, and the presenteeism, by the Stanford Presenteeism Scale-6 (SPS-6). Women were divided in two groups, with and without presenteeism, based on the SPS-6 cutoff point. Data were analyzed by binary logistic regression and presented as odds ratios (OR).

Results

Among the 430 women who participated in the study, 44.2% were classified as with presenteeism. Women with severe menstrual flow were more likely to have presenteeism (OR = 2.12) compared with women with mild and moderate menstrual flow. The higher menstrual pain intensity the higher the chances of a woman presenting with presenteeism (OR = 1.29).

Conclusions

These menstrual characteristics (intensity of menstrual flow and menstrual pain) seem to affect women’s productivity at work and/or college, and should be assessed in research and clinical practice. Thus, public policies on women’s health can be carried out based on these results.

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Data availability

Data will be made available at request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participants for their contribution to the study. Guilherme Tavares de Arruda, Amanda Garcia de Godoy, and Jéssica Cordeiro Rodrigues had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (CAPES, Finance Code 001, Brazil) and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grants 2019/14672-7 and 2021/11871-9, Brazil). Role of funding sources: The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Study Group on Chronic Pain (NEDoC), Laboratory of Research on Electrophysical Agents (LAREF), Physical Therapy Department, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luís, Km 235, São Carlos, SP, ZIP Code 13565-905, Brazil

    Guilherme Tavares de Arruda, Amanda Garcia de Godoy & Mariana Arias Avila

  2. Laboratory of Research on Women’s Health (LAMU), Physical Therapy Department, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Patricia Driusso & Jéssica Cordeiro Rodrigues

Authors
  1. Guilherme Tavares de Arruda
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  2. Patricia Driusso
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  3. Amanda Garcia de Godoy
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  4. Jéssica Cordeiro Rodrigues
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  5. Mariana Arias Avila
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. PD and MAA supervised and coordinated the study. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by GTDA, AGDG and JCR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by GTDA, PD and MAA and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mariana Arias Avila.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent to publish

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar) (CAAE 30232920.3.0000.5504, approval date 23/05/2020).

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Prior presentation: A part of this manuscript has been presented at the IASP 2021 Virtual Congress on Pain, held virtually June 9–11th and 16–18th 2021, with the title “Presenteeism and Dysmenorrhea Pain Intensity in Brazilian Women”.

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de Arruda, G.T., Driusso, P., de Godoy, A.G. et al. Presenteeism and associated factors among women with menstrual symptoms. Arch Gynecol Obstet 309, 2071–2077 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-024-07425-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-024-07425-1

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