Prevalence of Menstrual Distress among Young Undergraduate Females in Quetta Balochistan

Tabassum Khan N* and Jameel N

Keywords: Psychological Stress; Amenorrhea; Oligomenorrhea; Hormone; Anorexia Nervosa

Introduction

A menstrual related issue poses substantial health implications in young women [1]. Menstrual related problems among young females causes them to be absent from their work and school along with poor psychosocial and mental development [2, 3]. In adults, factors like depression and anxiety have an impact on women menstrual cycles [4]. In addition symptoms like cramps, fatigue, backache, swollen abdomen, and tender breasts were reported in women suffering from menstrual distress [5, 6]. Research revealed that these menstrual distress affects their daily activities as well as their reproductive and psychological health [7, 8]. Menstrual cycles is mostly accompanied by a number of painful symptoms such as premenstrual syndrome in which symptoms like mild cramping and fatigue occurs [1]. However the severity of these symptoms varies from female to female depending on their health, diet, living style and other factors [9]. Smoking, alcohol consumption, gain of appetite were also some factors reported among women with menstrual-related problems [10, 11]. Besides, young women also suffers from disturbed emotional feelings such as sadness, restlessness, desperation etc [12, 13]. If there is an absence of a cycle or an abnormal or light bleeding, it is an indication of abnormal menstrual cycle. Therefore it is essential to stay in touch with a gynecologist to identify any significant variations in a regular menstrual cycle [14]. The main aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of menstrual distress faced by young undergraduates and to find out those factors responsible for causing it.

Methodology

This research was a cross-sectional survey based study, conducted among the female undergraduate students studying in different educational institutions of Quetta, Balochistan. The sample sizes were kept 100 and students were selected at random. Married undergraduate females were excluded from this study. Study was carried out with the help of a questionnaire designed to find out the prevalence of different menstrual problems among young females Data was statistically analyzed using Microsoft excel 2013.

Results

Click to enlarge

Graph 1: Menstrual pattern of the undergraduate female students.

Graph 1 depicts the menstrual pattern of the adolescent undergraduate females including number of cycle and menstrual regularity.

Graph 2: Menstrual associated symptoms suffered by the undergraduate female students.

Graph 2 depicts the different menstruation distress associated symptoms suffered by the undergraduate female students.

Graph 3: Incidence of stress among undergraduate females.

Prevalence of stress among 100 adolescent undergraduate female students were given in Graph 3.

Graph 4: Prevalence of Menstruation distress among undergraduate females.

Prevalence of menstruation distress among 100 adolescent undergraduate female students were given Graph 4.

Discussion

Menstruation distress can affect your quality of life especially young undergraduate females who misses their school, not be able to participate in activities, struggle to carry out their usual daily activities, feel uncomfortable around people etc [15, 16]. As our obtained results suggested that the prevalence of menstruation distress among young undergraduates is high as out of 100 sample size 19% suffered from amenorrhea (absence of menstruation for 2 or more months), 15% dysmenorrhea (painful periods) and 13% menorrhagia (heavy bleeding) (graph 4).So a total of 47 female undergraduates out of 100 suffers from menstruation distress of different kinds keeping in mind that approximately 62% females were having irregular menstruation cycles out of 100 as depicted in graph 1.Amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea is the most prevalent type of menstruation distress among young females due to poor diet, low body weight and malnourishment [17, 18]. These conditions may lead to poor psychological health and weak reproductive health with severe consequences in the adulthood [19, 20]. Stress is also one of the most important contributing factor in causing menstruation distress among undergraduate females as graph 3 depicted that 76% of females were under high stress mainly due to their studies, work load, gpa concern and other associated factors [21]. This stress might also come from their home environment and their surroundings [22]. The remaining proportion of young females having irregular menstruation cycle may be due to genetic factors or might be due to some serious medical illness that was not taken in account in this study. These menstruation related problems among undergraduate females were also accompanied by symptoms including headache, generalized pain, acne, mood swings etc [23] thus increasing the severity of these distresses to a point where it starts to affect their daily routine (graph 2). Therefore it is potent to keep in check their menstruation cycle to avoid such distress. However there were certain limitations in this study such as family history of the female students were not taken into account and physical examination of the females should be done for better understanding of such a medical condition. The results of this study may provide a useful reference for designing menstrual health programs for adolescents at BUITEMS

Conclusion

Thus early documentation of menstrual associated problems in young females is required as these distresses affects the academic performance of the female students. In addition also exhibits damaging effects on their psychological and reproductive health. Such female students should be provided with psychological and gynecological counselling, as well as advices and strategies for preventing future complications.