PBAC calculator: score your period for heavy bleeding

Enter what you used over your period and this free PBAC (Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart) calculator adds up your score. A total of 100 or more suggests heavy menstrual bleeding. It runs in your browser — nothing is sent or saved.

Want this calculated for you automatically, every cycle? PeriodVol works like a digital pictorial chart but goes further — it estimates your loss in millilitres, marks the 80 ml line, predicts your next period, and can make a doctor report. It's free and private.

What the score means

• Under 100 — not in the heavy range by the PBAC. Other signs still matter (tiredness, large clots, flooding), so keep tracking.
• 100 or more — suggests probable menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding, ≈ more than 80 ml per cycle). It's worth talking to a doctor, especially with tiredness or breathlessness that can come with low iron.

This is a screening aid based on the Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart (Higham 1990), not a diagnosis. Scores vary with how you judge "soaked," and the 100 cut-off is a guide, not a hard line. For how the chart works and how clot size is defined, see menstrual blood loss charts.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Higham JM, O'Brien PMS, Shaw RW. "Assessment of menstrual blood loss using a pictorial chart." British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1990;97:734–739.
• Hallberg L, et al. "Menstrual blood loss — a population study." Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand, 1966;45:320–351 (the 80 ml threshold).
• NICE guideline NG88 — Heavy menstrual bleeding.