OBJECTIVE

The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and investigate factors associated with dysmenorrhic pain among university students in Lahore, Pakistan.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A cross-sectional study was conducted across various public and private sector universities in Lahore.

METHODS

A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 600 randomly selected female university students.

RESULTS

The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 91.5%. Age at menarche (odds ratio [OR] = 1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.10-3.50) was the only significant factor associated with dysmenorrhea. The mean pain severity score among dysmenorrhic students was 5.62 ± 2.28. Most of the participants (65.8%) were experiencing moderate/severe pain. Univariate analysis showed that irregular cycle (OR [95% CI] = 1.62 [1.13-2.33]), age at menarche of ≤14 years (OR [95% CI] = 1.46 [1.05-2.04]), duration of menses of more than 5 days (OR [95% CI] = 1.42 [1.02-1.99]), stress (OR [95% CI] = 2.16 [1.54-3.03]), moderate meat/protein consumption (OR [95% CI] = 1.55 [1.08-2.21]), and medical specialization (OR [95% CI] = 1.72 [1.17-2.52]) were significantly associated with pain severity among dysmenorrhic female students. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis revealed that medical specialization (OR [95% CI] = 1.83 [1.22-2.73]), age at menarche (OR [95% CI] = 0.603 [0.42-0.86]), regularity of menses (OR [95% CI] = 1.52 [1.04-2.22]), moderate meat/protein consumption (OR [95% CI] = 1.69 [1.16-2.45]), and stress (OR [95% CI] = 1.87 [1.32-2.66]) were independent predictors of moderate/severe dysmenorrhic pain.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed an alarmingly high prevalence of dysmenorrhea among university students. High levels of stress and early menarche were the potent determinants of moderate/severe dysmenorrhea that disturbs quality of life.