Menstruation in adolescents: what's normal?
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Clinicians need to be aware of evidence-based norms for pubertal development and menstrual function. Parameters for normal and abnormal menstrual bleeding in adolescents are listed in Table 2. Informing adolescents and their parents about these parameters and encouraging prospective charting of bleeding can help to determine whether the bleeding pattern is unusual enough to warrant diagnostic testing or therapy. Physicians and women should be encouraged to consider the menstrual cycle as a “vital sign.”[19,35] Just as abnormalities in pulse, respiration, or blood pressure can signal the need for medical evaluation, so too can menstrual abnormalities. It may be helpful to suggest to an adolescent that menstrual abnormalities in the absence of hormonal therapies should warrant attention: “Your body is telling you something.” Abnormal bleeding while on hormonal contraception has a very different pathophysiology from abnormal bleeding without hormonal contraception. Appropriate evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment have the potential to prevent future morbidities and to significantly improve an adolescent's quality of life.[36]
Table 2
Quick Guide to Periods in Adolescents: What's Normal/What's Not
Source: PubMed Central
Author: Paula J Adams Hillard
Institution: Stanford Medicine
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2405511228