From: A systematic review of methods to measure menstrual blood loss
Method | Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|---|
Alkaline hematin | • “Gold standard” in terms of accuracy • Has undergone considerable development to improve rapidity; validated for selected SAP-c towels • Well suited to research setting • Best used in conjunction with a pictorial method and a diary | • Requires calibration curves for each product and does not take extraneous blood loss into account • Patients in the clinical setting may be deterred by having to collect, store, and send sanitary products for analysis |
Gynaeseal/Mooncup | • Requires few changes per day | • Subject to leakage during collection and therefore unsuitable for either clinical or research purposes |
MFL | • Simple • Can be used to measure effect of medical intervention | • Requires collection of used sanitary products and pre- and post-use weighing • Sanitary item must be stored in a sealed container before weighing to minimize fluid evaporation |
Duration of period | • Simple and easy | • Participants must record/recall results |
Counts of pads | • Simple and easy | • Participants must record/recall results • Frequency of changing pads can be influenced by many variables |
Measurement of iron/labelled red blood cells | • Most methods are accurate | • Technically challenging to perform, requires specialist equipment, and is therefore most suited to research |
PBAC | • Quick and simple • Has undergone extensive development; validated for selected SAP-c towels • Suitable for research purposes and has potential value in the clinic | • Only validated for a limited number of current products • Participants must record/recall results |
Menstrual pictogram | • Quick and easy • Has undergone development; validated for selected SAP-c towels • Suitable for research purposes and has potential value in the clinic • Differentiates between absorbency ratings of sanitary items | • Only validated for a limited number of current products • Participants must record/recall results |
Question-naires | • Many available, ranging in complexity, with questions relating to MBL, generic or disease-specific QoL, or both | • Poorly validated, with a few exceptions • Participants must record/recall results |
Self-perception | • Simple • Useful for clinical assessments | • Does not give precise MBL measure • Participants must record/recall results • Individuals can be poor judges of MBL • Not diagnostic |