Survey study, 1998
What is the best way to measure breast pain that comes and goes with your period?
A daily visual pain scale works much better than asking women to remember their pain later. Women with cyclical breast pain reported much higher pain levels during menstruation (5.3 out of 10) compared to women without cyclical pain (3.5).
What they did
Thirty women from a military hospital completed a screening questionnaire about breast pain. Two weeks later, 15 women identified as having cyclical breast pain and 15 without kept daily diaries, rating their breast pain each day using a simple 0-10 scale and recording menstrual symptoms.
What they found
Women with cyclical breast pain reported peak pain of 5.3 during their period, compared to 3.5 in women without cyclical pain. Using screening answers to predict diary results worked 73% of the time. Most women with cyclical breast pain also reported other premenstrual symptoms, though some had high breast pain with few other complaints.
What it means for you
Measuring breast pain accurately requires daily tracking, not just asking women what they remember. Memory is unreliable because symptoms change so much day to day. The simple pain scale is easy for women to use and gives consistent results.
5.3
Peak pain in cyclical group
3.5
Peak pain in non-cyclical group
73%
Prediction accuracy
About the study
- Original title
- Clinical evaluation of mastalgia
- Authors
- Tavaf-Motamen H, Ader DN, Browne MW et al.
- Journal
- Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill. : 1960)
- Year
- 1998
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 15
- What was tested
- None - this tested how to measure pain, not treat it
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.133.2.211
Topics
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