The community prevalence of chronic pelvic pain in women and associated illness behaviour

Background: Chronic pelvic pain has often been described as a major women's health issue, but no information exists on the extent of the problem in th e United Kingdom. Aim: To investigate the community prevalence of chronic pelvic pain and its effect on the lives of consulting and non-consulting women. Design of study: Postal questionnaire survey. Setting: Women aged 18 to 49 (n = 3916) randomly selected from the Oxfordsh ire Health Authority Register. Method: The questionnaire response rate (adjusted for non-deliveries) was 7 4% (2304/3106). Chronic pelvic pain was defined as recurrent or constant pe lvic pain of at least six months' duration, unrelated to periods, intercour se of pregnancy. Case subgroups comprised recent consulters, past consulter s, and non-consulters. Women who reported dysmenorrhoea alone formed a comp arison group. Results: The three-month prevalence of chronic pelvic pain was 24.0% (95% C I = 22.1% to 25.8%). One-third of women reported pain that started more tha n five years ago. Recent consulters (32% of cases) were most affected by th eir symptoms in terms of pain severity, use of health care, physical and me ntal health scores, sleep quality, and pain-related absence from work. Non- consulters (41% of cases) did not differ from women with dysmenorrhoea in t erms of symptom-related impairment. Irrespective of consulting behavior, a high rate of symptom-related anxiety was found in women with chronic pelvic pain (31%) compared with women with dysmenorrhoea (7%). Conclusions: This study showed a high community prevalence of chronic pain in women of reproductive age. Cases varied substantially in the degree to w hich they were affected by their symptoms. The high symptom-related anxiety in these women emphasises the need for more information about chronic pelv ic pain and its possible causes.