Girls whose periods hurt badly at 15 are more likely to live with pain at 26

They drew on Children of the 90s, a long-running British study (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2025), which rated period pain at 15 and looked for chronic pain at 26. It showed up in 17.3% of those whose periods didn't hurt at 15, and in 33.5% of those whose pain stopped them doing normal things. The researchers adjusted for difficult childhood experiences, depressive symptoms before the first period, BMI and more. The risk was still 76% higher with severe pain than with no period pain, and 65% higher with moderate pain. Mild pain showed no clear link. And the pain wasn't only in the pelvis: headaches, back pain and joint pain were all more common. Two thirds of those with severe pain didn't have chronic pain at 26.

Anxiety and depressive symptoms explained only a small part of the link. Vincent suspects the teenage nervous system is unusually adaptable, so repeated pain may leave a lasting mark on how the body handles pain. That is still a hypothesis. The participants described their own pain, and the study recruited in one part of England, Avon. Pain counted as chronic if it had lasted a day or more in the past month and had started at least three months earlier. This study can't say whether treating a 15-year-old prevents pain at 26.

In 2026 three of the authors gave their editorial a blunt title: severe menstrual pain is not normal. If pain gets in the way of school or work, that's reason enough to see a doctor. Most young people don't seek help, Vincent says, and those who do may be brushed off. That complaint now comes with numbers.