New Delhi, November 27 (IANS). A research has revealed that women suffering from depression are more likely to have pain during menstruation (also known as dysmenorrhea).
Previous research has shown that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men and often experience more severe physical symptoms. While links between mental health and reproductive health have been found, the relationships between them have not yet been explored.
To understand this, researchers from China and the UK led a study in which they analyzed genetic variation and identified a specific gene that may be responsible for the effect of depression on menstrual pain.
“Our findings provide evidence that depression may be a cause of dysmenorrhea (pain during menstruation), rather than a consequence of it,” said lead author Shuhe Liu, a doctoral student at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool-University, China. “
However, they did not find evidence that menstrual pain increases the risk of depression.
In the study published in the journal Briefings in Bioinformatics, the team analyzed nearly 600,000 cases from European populations and 8,000 cases from East Asian populations and saw a strong link in both datasets.
They also examined the role of sleep in people suffering from depression.
The results showed that increased sleep disturbances may lead to increased menstrual pain, thus emphasizing the need to pay attention to sleep problems to link the two conditions.
The study also talks about the need for a holistic approach when treating mental health and fertility problems.
Liu said mental disorders are often not considered when treating conditions like menstrual pain. Our findings emphasize the importance of mental health screening for people suffering from severe menstrual pain.
–IANS
MKS/AS
