BMJ 1995;310:803 (25 March)

Letters

Establish severity of blood loss and psychological status before surgery

EDITOR,--In the paper on their trial of hysterectomy, endometrial ablation, and endometrial resection for dysfunctional uterine bleeding S B Pinion and colleagues do not say how they assessed depression.1 They do, however, report extremely high levels of depression before surgery, which, despite falling afterwards, remained significantly raised. These findings are in keeping with the likelihood that a complicated relation exists between emotional problems and dysfunctional uterine bleeding.2 3 For example, if a woman is suffering from uncomfortable and unusually heavy menstrual blood loss it is easy to see why she might feel miserable and will feel much better after successful surgery. Psychological distress may also alter a woman's perception of her periods or her help seeking behaviour. The criteria used in this study to define clinical dysfunctional uterine bleeding are unclear. The diagnosis seems to have been based on detailed histories of menstrual blood loss; this approach has been shown to . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Access all current jobs at BMJ Group
Whats new online at Student BMJ
Listen to the latest BMJ Interview