Menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) is a major cause of distress, disability, and development of chronic pelvic pain
(CPP). Very little is known about how local uterine inflammation and central neural dysregulation interact to
cause painful periods. Understanding their interaction and how it might worsen central neural hypersensitivity
is essential to prevent dysmenorrhea from progressing into CPP conditions like bladder pain syndrome,
irritable bowel syndrome, or endometriosis. There are two factors in dysmenorrhea we have studied that hold
promise as targets to reduce future risk of CPP – the presence of co-occurring bladder hypersensitivity and the
individual response to common anti-inflammatory treatments. The expansion of pain from one pelvic organ to
nearby ones suggests sensory processing dysregulation in the spinal cord or brain. Our preliminary data
shows that effective NSAID therapy for dysmenorrhea may reduce future CPP risk by normalizing local nerve
activation, inflammatory molecules in the uterine lining, and painful hypersensitivity in adjacent pelvic organs.
To distinguish the role of different sensory mechanisms in CPP progression, our interdisciplinary team will use
a collection of validated sensory tasks involving mechanical, thermal, electrical stimulation and bladder filling.
Our proposal also pairs high-density electroencephalography with sensory testing to identify brain differences
related to abnormal pain interpretation. We plan to administer these tasks along with symptom questionnaires
to understand why some women with menstrual pain respond better to NSAIDs, and which factors predict
diminished CPP risk following an optimized program to reduce menstrual pain. In Aim 1 we will conduct a one-
year, randomized controlled trial (n=300) of optimized NSAID vs. placebo treatment for period pain in
moderate-plus dysmenorrhea sufferers. We will determine whether active treatment, menstrual pain relief, and
lower levels of uterine inflammatory molecules predict lower nonmenstrual pelvic pain (NMPP, a marker for
future CPP risk) at one year post-treatment. Aim 2, conducted within the Aim 1 study structure, will establish
which specific sensory tests predict reductions in NMPP following treatment. EEG will be used to pinpoint
precise mechanisms for differences in these sensory responses. Collectively, this study of higher-risk women is
designed to characterize how menstrual pain and bladder hypersensitivity interact to promote CPP, and if these
factors predict who benefits from early preventative treatment. The approach is novel for using a sample of
women enriched for future pain risk (women with dysmenorrhea and bladder pain) and for conducting future
pain-risk prediction with recognized factors: sensory testing profiles, adjacent organ pain involvement, and
observed response to a targeted treatment. Structural equation modeling will be used to formally define how
these interact to cause CPP while controlling for other key pain risk factors, such as relative local inflammation
and psychosocial profiles. These study results obtained by a diverse team of interdisciplinary collaborators are
expected to markedly improve our understanding of pain risk heterogeneity for chronic pain prevention
