MENSTRUAL PROBLEMS IN UNDERGRADUATES MEDICAL STUDENTS: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY IN A MEDICAL COLLEGE OF NORTH INDIA

Introduction:

Menstruation is a natural physiological process that is a part of a woman’s reproductive health. It is experienced by all females every month. Menstruation is the visible manifestation of cyclic physiologic uterine bleeding due to shedding of the endometrium following invisible interplay of hormones mainly through hypothalami-pituitary-ovarian axis. Once the menstruation starts,it comes at intervals of 21-35 days with a mean of 28 days. The duration is about 4-5 days and the amount of blood loss is estimated to be 20-80 ml with average of 35 ml. For some these days are as normal as regular days but for others it is quite a challenging time. Lack of awareness among young girls and different taboos are responsible for the hesitation,shyness and fear in sharing problems.1The prevalance of menstrual disorders can be as high as 87%.2 Various menstrual disorders are amenorrhea,irregular cycles,abnormal flow to dymenorrhea and premenstrual symptoms.Among which commonest is dysmenorrhea with prevalence of 60%-90%.3 Dysmenorrhea and premenstrual syndrome are cause for absenteeism and limitation of social and physical activities.4Sometimes, these menstrual problems effect the general health of young female and also effects their performance academically and this leads to stress.

Aim :

1. Prevalence of menstrual problems in medical undergraduates.

2. Associated factors

3. Common menstrual problems in medical undergraduates students.

Method & Material :

Type of study – Cross sectional study Study period - 2 months (april 2018-may 2018) Study population – Study will be conducted on 200 medical undergraduate females studying in our institute.

Exclusion criteria : Unwilling students

Study Tool : Interview based as per pre tested semi structural questionnaire which will comprise sociodemographic details of students & various menstrual problems experienced by them.

Further data will be analyzed using SPSS VERSION 20 software and association among various variable will be determined.

P value < 0.05 will be considered significant.

Tool design :

Questionnaire - Students will be given proforma that will be filled anonymously. - The proforma contain questions related to: -BMI - Cycle - Regularity - Abnormal bleeding - Associated premenstrual symptoms - Abnormal discharge - Absenteeism from class Research will be started only after ethical clearance by our institute.

Statistics : Data will be analysed using SPSS VERSION 20 software and association among various variable will be determined.

Pvalue <0.05 will be considered significant.

References :

1. Shukla MK ,Khan S ,Srivastava A .Common menstrual complaints and use of medication ,among undergraduate students of Moradabad ,Uttar Pradesh. India: a cross sectional study .Int. J Community Med Public Health. 2016;3(8):2180-5.

2. Narayan KA Srinivasa DK ,Petlo PJ , Veerammal S; Puberty rituals ,reproductive knowledge and health of adolescents schoolgirls in South India .Asia Pacific Population Journal ,2001 ; 16(2) : 225-238.

3.Campbell M ,McGrath P ; Use of medication by the adolescents for the management of menstrual discomfort ,Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med.,1997;151(9) ;905 -912.

4.Singh A,Kiran D , Singh H ,Nel B , Singh P ,Tiwari P ; Prevalance and severity of dysmenorrhea : A problem related to menstruation among first and second year female medical students.Indian J Physiol Pharmacol., 2008;52(4) :389-397.