The role of catastrophizing in chronic cyclical pelvic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Emily P. Rabinowitz, MacKenzie A Sayer, Douglas L Delahanty
Women's health (London, England) · 2023 · vol. 19 , pp. 17455057231199949 · doi:10.1177/17455057231199949 · PMID:37752879 · PMC10524082 · W4387078017
review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This systematic review and meta-analysis found a small but significant positive association between catastrophizing and pain ratings in individuals with chronic cyclical pelvic pain.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dysmenorrhea (painful menstrual cramps) is one of the most common gynecological complaints in women and girls. Dysmenorrhea may be a condition itself or a result of another medical condition, including endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. Research examining the relationship between menstrual pain ratings and catastrophizing has produced mixed results. OBJECTIVE: To review and meta-analyze the relationship between catastrophizing and pain ratings of chronic cyclical pelvic pain. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intervention studies that reported the relationship between menstrual/pelvic pain and catastrophizing were included. Study populations had to include healthy menstruating persons or persons with a condition associated with cyclical pelvic pain including primary dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, and/or chronic pelvic pain. DATA SOURCES AND METHODS: A systematic search of articles published since 2012 on PubMed, PsychInfo, CINHAL, and Medline was conducted in January and rerun in November of 2022. Search terms included cyclical pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, pelvic pain, and catastrophizing. Data extraction was completed independently by two extractors and cross-checked for errors. A random-effects meta-regression was used to synthesize the data using restricted maximum likelihood. RESULTS: < .001). Studies that measured general pelvic pain rather than cyclical pelvic pain specifically and those that used multi-item rather than single-item measures of pain had significantly higher correlations. Age and depression did not moderate the relationship between catastrophizing and pain. CONCLUSION: A systematic review and meta-analysis found that catastrophizing had a small but significant positive association with pain ratings. Patients experiencing cyclical pelvic pain may benefit from interventions targeting the psychological management of pain. REGISTRATION: This meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO on 14 January 2022. Registration number: CRD42022295328.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

dysmenorrheaendometriosischronic_pelvic_pain

MeSH descriptors

Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Catastrophization Catastrophization Catastrophization Catastrophization Catastrophization Catastrophization

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (93)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-12T06:13:51.797165+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-29T00:33:19.715729+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK