Having painful periods during your teenage years might influence how you experience pain later in adult life. One concern is that it might increase the risk of chronic pain (pain lasting longer than 3 months) by making the body or brain more sensitive to things it might perceive as pain. Although we know that period pain is common in teenagers, very little research has explored this topic.
The aim of our study was to estimate how likely it is that women (or people assigned female at birth) will develop chronic pain at 26 years of age, depending on how severe their period pain was at 15 years (“mild”, “moderate”, or “severe”). We also investigated whether mental health (symptoms of anxiety or depression) could be important for explaining how period pain could influence chronic pain.
Our study included 1,157 women who were living in the Southwest England in the 1990s/2000s. Of these, 84% had period pain when they were 15 years old (24% “mild”, 45% “moderate”, and 14% “severe”).
Compared to those who did not have period pain, those with “mild” pain were 23% more likely to develop chronic pain at 26 years, while those with “moderate” or “severe” period pain were 65% and 76% more likely to develop chronic pain. Period pain was most strongly associated with chronic pain in the head, back, abdomen, and joints.
Our analysis took other important factors into consideration, for example ethnic and social background, psychological factors, diet quality, exercise, and smoking.
We found that anxiety and depression explained a small part (8-23%) of the relationship between period pain and chronic pain. This means that an explanation for most of the relationship remains unknown.
These findings are important for highlighting that period pain should be taken seriously as a health issue and that young people with periods should be supported to manage their pain effectively.