Preference on the treatments for menorrhagia in Hong Kong chinese women.

Background: Menorrhagia is a common gynecological problem and its management options vary from medical to surgical treatment. With the development of the new minimally invasive therapies, there is a paucity of data in the preference and acceptance on these treatment options, especially in the Chinese population.

Methods: An anonymous survey using a self-constructed questionnaire was undertaken on women with heavy menstrual bleeding referred to the specialty clinic in a university teaching hospital. The aim was to elicit women's knowledge and preferences for the treatment options for menorrhagia.

Results: A total of 200 Chinese women returned their questionnaire with a response rate of 62%. Over 90% of them were unaware of other alternative treatment options for menorrhagia. Eumenorrhea was the desired treatment outcome in 173 (86.5%) women while only 15 (7.5%) and 12 (6%) wished to have oligomenorrhea and amenorrhea respectively. Drug therapy was the preferred first-line treatment in 87% and none preferred to undergo hysterectomy. When the medical treatment failed, 16% of women would not accept any other forms of treatment. For the rest of them, an L-norgestrel-releasing intrauterine device was the preferred option in 53.6%, endometrial ablation in 19%, while only 5.4% would prefer hysterectomy.

Conclusion: The awareness of alternative treatment options for menorrhagia in Hong Kong Chinese women is very deficient and eumenorrhea is the desired treatment outcome, rather than oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea.