Prevalence of Menstrual Problems among Adolescent School Girls in Rural Tamil Nadu.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Adolescent girls face a gamut of problems of which the menstrual problems are the most common. Because menstrual problems are subtle, the problems often are unreported. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles.

DESIGN

Cross sectional study.

SETTING

School-based study conducted in a rural school of the Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu.

PARTICIPANTS

The participants were adolescent girls who attained menarche at least 1 year before the data collection period were selected using a simple random sampling method. A total of 350 participants were included in the study.

INTERVENTIONS

No interventions were done. A structured, pretested questionnaire was used to collect data.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcome measured in this study was the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles.

RESULTS

The mean age of the study participants was 14.74 years. The mean age at menarche was 12.4 years. In this study, 87.7% of the girls suffered from a menstrual problem. Overall, dysmenorrhea was prevalent in 72.6%, and menorrhagia and irregular menstrual cycles were present among 45.7% and 31.7% of the participants, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Menstrual problems form an important domain of adolescent health and because these problems go unreported, it is necessary that adequate attention and care is provided. The consequences of the neglect of menstrual problems results in impaired reproductive and sexual health in older women.