Pawłowski B
Department of Anthropology, University of Wrocław, Poland.
Ann Hum Biol. 2004 Jan-Feb;31(1):1-8. doi: 10.1080/03014460310001602072.
The prevalence of menstrual pain in Western societies is relatively high and has been shown to be related to many factors (e.g. age, menarche age, parity, menstrual cycle regularity, cigarette smoking, dietary habits). However, less data are available for traditional societies, within which there are, presumably, not as many potentially disturbing factors that could influence menstrual symptoms as in Western societies.
The study seeks to determine the prevalence of dysmenorrhoea, and the factors related to menstrual pains in women with natural fertility (i.e. without hormonal forms of contraception).
177 non-smoking women between 18 and 45 years of age living in one Mayan village (Yaxcaba, Yucatan, Mexico) were the subjects of this study. The method of logistic regression was used with the dichotomous dependent variable being the presence or absence of menstrual pain together with such independent variables as age, age at menarche, number of pregnancies, age when giving birth to the first child, the weight at interview and BMI.
The general prevalence of the menstrual pains was 28%. There was only one variable influencing dysmenorrhoea, namely the age at which women give birth to their first children. Those mothers who gave birth to their first child at an earlier age (at mean age of 19.4 vs 21.1 years) had a lower prevalence of dysmenorrhoea.
In the studied traditional society the main factor related to menstrual pain was the age at which woman first gave birth. It is hypothesized that an earlier start to reproductive life in some way decreases the sensitivity of the uterus to prostaglandins.
痛经在西方社会的患病率相对较高，且已表明与许多因素有关（如年龄、初潮年龄、生育次数、月经周期规律性、吸烟、饮食习惯）。然而，关于传统社会的数据较少，据推测，传统社会中可能影响月经症状的干扰因素不像西方社会那么多。
本研究旨在确定自然生育（即未采用激素避孕方式）的女性中痛经的患病率以及与月经疼痛相关的因素。
本研究的对象为居住在墨西哥尤卡坦半岛亚克斯卡巴一个玛雅村庄的177名18至45岁的非吸烟女性。采用逻辑回归方法，二分因变量为是否存在月经疼痛，自变量包括年龄、初潮年龄、怀孕次数、生育第一个孩子时的年龄、访谈时的体重和体重指数。
月经疼痛的总体患病率为28%。只有一个变量影响痛经，即女性生育第一个孩子的年龄。那些生育第一个孩子年龄较早的母亲（平均年龄为19.4岁，而其他母亲为21.1岁）痛经患病率较低。
在该研究的传统社会中，与月经疼痛相关的主要因素是女性首次生育的年龄。据推测，较早开始生育生活在某种程度上降低了子宫对前列腺素的敏感性。
