Psychological and physical stress response and incidence of irregular menstruation in female university employees: a retrospective cohort study.

Background This study aimed to assess a clinical relevance of three-dimensional occupational stress (job stressor score [A score], psychological and physical stress response score [B score], and social support for workers score [C score]) of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) in the national stress check program in Japan to irregular menstruation.Methods The present retrospective cohort study included 2,078 female employees aged 19-45 years who had both annual health checkups and the BJSQ between April 2019 and March 2022 in a national university in Japan. The outcome was self-reported irregular menstruation measured at annual health checkups until March 2023. A dose-dependent association between BJSQ scores and incidence of irregular menstruation was examined using Cox proportional hazards models to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of four quantile (0-49% [Q], 50-74% [Q], 75-89% [Q], and 90-100% [Q]) of the BJSQ scores.Results During 2.0 years of the median observational period, 257 (12.4%) women reported irregular menstruation. B score, not A or C scores, was identified as a significant predictor of irregular menstruation (adjusted HR [95% confidence interval] of A, B, and C scores per 1 standard deviation: 1.06 [0.89-1.27], 1.35 [1.15-1.57], and 0.93 [0.80-1.08], respectively). Women with higher B score had a significantly higher risk of irregular menstruation in a dose-dependent manner (adjusted HR [95% confidence interval] of Q, Q, Q, and Q: 1.00 [reference], 1.38 [1.00-1.90], 1.48 [1.00-2.18], and 2.18 [1.38-3.43], respectively).Conclusions Psychological and physical stress response predicted irregular menstruation.