Term	Abnormal uterine bleeding pattern
Oligomenorrhea	Bleeding occurs at intervals of > 35 days and usually is caused by a prolonged follicular phase.
Polymenorrhea	Bleeding occurs at intervals of < 21 days and may be caused by a lutealphase defect.
Menorrhagia	Bleeding occurs at normal intervals (21 to 35 days) but with heavy flow (80 mL) or duration (7 days).
Menometrorrhagia	Bleeding occurs at irregular, noncyclic intervals and with heavy flow (80 mL) or duration (7 days).
Amenorrhea	Bleeding is absent for 6 months or more in a nonmenopausal woman.
Metrorrhagia or bleeding intermenstrual	Irregular bleeding occurs between ovulatory cycles; causes to consider include cervical disease, intrauterine device, endometritis, polyps, submucous myomas, endometrial hyperplasia, and cancer.
Midcycle spotting	Spotting occurs just before ovulation, usually because of a decline in the estrogen level.
Postmenopausal bleeding	Bleeding recurs in a menopausal woman at least 1 year after cessation of cycles.
Acute emergent abnormal uterine bleeding	Bleeding is characterized by significant blood loss that results in hypovolemia (hypotension or tachycardia) or shock.
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding	This ovulatory or anovulatory bleeding is diagnosed after the exclusion of pregnancy or pregnancy-related disorders, medications, iatrogenic causes, obvious genital tract pathology, and systemic conditions.