Is primary dysmenorrhea a precursor of future endometriosis development?

Sara Clemenza, Clemenza S, Silvia Vannuccini, Capezzuoli T, Tommaso Capezzuoli, Meleca CI, Chiara Immacolata Meleca, Pampaloni F, Francesca Pampaloni, Petraglia F, Felice Petraglia
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2021 · vol. 37(4) , pp. 287–293 · doi:10.1080/09513590.2021.1878134 · PMID:33569996 · W3127033660
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 20 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review investigates clinical and pathogenetic features of primary dysmenorrhea and endometriosis to identify a possible association, given women with adolescent dysmenorrhea have a higher future risk of endometriosis.

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

Abstract

Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is the most common gynecologic disorder during adolescence and it is characterized by crampy lower abdominal pain that occurs during menstruation. Secondary dysmenorrhea, in contrast, has the same clinical features but occurs in women with a disease that could account for their symptoms (endometriosis, adenomyosis, uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease). Endometriosis is the most common cause of secondary dysmenorrhea and it should be considered in patients with persistent and clinically significant dysmenorrhea despite treatment. It is often diagnosed after a long delay, increasing the likelihood of pain chronicity and fertility problems at a later age. Women who suffer from dysmenorrhea in adolescence have higher risk of endometriosis in future. The open question is if endometriosis was already present at the onset of dysmenorrhea but undiagnosed or if PD favors subsequent development of endometriosis-associated pain. Since PD is associated with higher risk for developing chronic pain state and shares some of the same pain pathways of endometriosis (prostaglandins overproduction, inflammation, peripheral sensitization, central sensitization and abnormal stress responses), a correlation between PD and endometriosis is suggested. To know whether it is a risk factor for the development of endometriosis-associated pain may provide an opportunity for early intervention and prevention. The present review aims to investigate the clinical and pathogenetic features of PD and endometriosis in order to identify a possible association between the two conditions.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

dysmenorrheaendometriosischronic_pelvic_painadenomyosis

MeSH descriptors

Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Inflammation Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Contraceptives, Oral, Combined Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Inflammation Inflammation Inflammation Pelvic Pain

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (84)

Cited by (22)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:17:10.165071+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:30:01.769541+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:33:14.382917+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK