Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women

C hronic pelvic pain is defined in a variety of ways. a useful clinical definition of chronic pelvic pain is noncyclic pain that lasts six months or more; is localized to the pelvis, the anterior abdominal wall at or below the umbilicus, or the buttocks; and is of sufficient severity to cause functional disability or require medical care. other definitions do not require that the pain be noncyclic. Because the definition of chronic pelvic pain varies, it is difficult to ascertain its exact prevalence. in the United Kingdom, 3.8 percent of women in the primary care population report experiencing chronic pelvic pain, defined as noncyclic pain in the lower abdominal region lasting six months or more and without a specific disease diagnosis. this is similar to the prevalence of migraine headaches, asthma, and low back pain in the United Kingdom. However, in a 1996 study conducted in the United States, 15 percent of women indicated they had experienced either constant or intermittent pelvic pain during the preceding six months, which met the study’s criteria for chronic pelvic pain. the same study estimated the cost of outpatient medical visits associated with chronic pelvic pain to be $880 million per year in the United States, with 15 percent of women with chronic pelvic pain reporting lost time from paid work, and 45 percent reporting decreased productivity at work.