Evaluation of the safety and comfort of menstrual cup during sport: A prospective cohort study.

Abstract Objectives: to evaluate the the acceptability of menstrual cup during sport. Design: prospective cohort study. Setting: São Paulo, Brazil. Participants: a total of 49 female handball players with a mean age of 22 ± 2 years. Intervention: participants were inveted to use Softcup® disposable menstrual during three menstrual cycles. Main outcome measures: Overall satisfaction; secondary outcomes included ease of insertion and removal of the device, pain, discomfort in sexual intercourse, blood leakage and / or loss of the menstrual cup during sport.Results: The degree of overall satisfaction during sport was high (82%). The insertion and removal of the menstrual cup was considered easy by most users, and the degree of satisfaction increased in subsequent cycles. The complaint of menstrual flow leakage during sport occurred in 63.3% of the athletes in the first cycle and fell to 42.9% in the last cycle (p> 0.05). There was loss of the device during exercise in 36.7% of the athletes in the first cycle, 30.6% in the second and 26.5% in the third cycle (p> 0.05). Of the athletes who had sexual intercourse with the collector, 90.9% of them had no discomfort. Conclusion: although the leakage and loss of the device may occur during the sport, the acceptability of the menstrual cup was high among the female athletes.