Why carry out this study?

Dysmenorrhea affects up to 90% of women, negatively affecting health-related quality of life (HRQL) and work productivity.

Studies of low-dose estrogen/progestin (LEP) as treatment for dysmenorrhea investigating the impact of extended LEP regimens on HRQL or examining the relationship between HRQL and work productivity in Japanese women are lacking.

Patient-reported outcomes from patients receiving LEP or non-LEP treatment for dysmenorrhea in real-world clinical practice may provide insight into the HRQL and work productivity in Japanese women by LEP treatment.

What is learned from this study?

In real-world clinical practice, physical and mental menstrual symptoms, HRQL, and work productivity improved significantly with LEP treatment in Japanese women with dysmenorrhea.

Patients with secondary dysmenorrhea taking LEP tended to have a lower improvement in HRQL than those with primary dysmenorrhea, while absenteeism of patients with secondary dysmenorrhea showed a significant improvement with LEP (not significant for patients with primary dysmenorrhea).