• John J Sollers, Brittani Leach-Beale, Camela S Barker, Mary Wood, Tanisha Burford, Kristen Bell, Malik Muhammad, Jessica R Lands, Nina Smith, Jessica Miller, Brianna Jones, Ashely Nicole Murrill, Alvin Killough, Elwood Robinson, Keith E Whitfield, Goldie S Byrd, and Christopher L Edwards.
• Psychology Department, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: jjsollers@nccu.edu.
• J Natl Med Assoc. 2021 Feb 1; 113 (1): 54-58.

ObjectiveWe evaluated the effects of menstrual types inclusive of PMS on reports of chronic pain intensity and psychopathology in twenty-eight women (mean age 38.93 ± 13.51) with Sickle Cell disease (SCD).MethodsUsing the Menstrual Symptoms Questionnaire, we compared women with PMS to those with less distressing spasmodic cycle types.ResultsThirty-four percent of the sample used oral contraception; there were no significant effects of birth control use on reports of pain. Women with PMS characterized the sensory (p = .04) and affective (p = .04) experiences of their SCD-related chronic pain, including their current pain intensity (p = .03), as significantly greater than women with primary spasmodic menstrual type. Further, there was a trend towards significance for women with PMS to report greater levels of overall pain intensity (p = .07) and average pain intensity over the past month (p = .08).ConclusionsThe authors interpret these results to suggest that there may be a complex interaction of neurohormonal, biological, and psychological factors associated with PMS that influence manifestation and experience of chronic pain in patients with SCD.Copyright © 2020 National Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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