Postmenopausal dyspareunia occurring concurrently with vaginal atrophy is strongly associated with a lack of estrogen in the genital tract. However, a significant percentage of postmenopausal women experience dyspareunic pain that is not caused by hypoestrogenism. It is likely that other types of dyspareunia that occur premenopausally are also occurring in postmenopausal women. Research is needed to adequately address this issue. A change in perspective toward a multiaxial pain-focused approach is proposed for future research concerning dyspareunia in postmenopausal women.
Our findings suggest an association between certain psychopathologic traits and the likelihood of abuse (especially when occurring both in childhood and adulthood). Observed associations could implicate causal effects of childhood abuse on personality development, influences of personality traits in heightening the risk of abuse, or both.
This study investigated the clinical attributes of postmenopausal dyspareunia. The authors obtained a systematic description of pain symptomatology from 182 postmenopausal dyspareunia sufferers using a structured interview, quantitative sensory testing, a standardized pain measure, and gynecological examination. The authors conducted a cluster analysis to examine whether sufferers could be categorized using clinical pain and gynecological factors. The authors delineated 6 subgroups, each exhibiting distinct combinations of pain and gynecological characteristics. The results support the hypothesis that, similarly to premenopausal dyspareunia, postmenopausal dyspareunia is a heterogeneous condition.
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