SELF-REPORTED MENSTRUAL CONCERNS OF US AIR-FORCE AND US ARMY RATED WOMEN AIRCREW

A comprehensive anonymous questionnaire survey of all U.S. Army and U. S. Air Force rated female aircrew, with age- and duty-matched males, w as conducted. This report addresses the menstrual concerns part of the questionnaire, which sought information from women on discomfort prob lems during the menstrual cycle and methods used for combating this di scomfort. Five hundred sixty-seven women were surveyed. Only 9% of res pondents admitted to having any menstrual complaints and, of these, on ly 17% attempted to take themselves off the flight schedule during the problem days. Even so, 41% of all women aircrew admitted to taking so me form of medication for menstrual discomfort while on flight status. Most respondents to this section of the questionnaire were openly hos tile, seemingly sensitive to sex-specific questions, This could be a s afety-of-flight issue, in that menstrual symptoms could be a serious i n-flight distraction to the female aircrew member.