Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: August | Volume: 9 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 384-393
Prevalence of Menstrual Disorders and Their Association with Physical Activity in Adolescent Girls of Aligarh City
Sonal Kulshrestha1, Prof. Anisa M. Durrani2
1Research Scholar, 2Professor;
Department of Home Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University (A.M.U.), Aligarh - 202001, Uttar Pradesh. INDIA
Corresponding Author: Sonal Kulshrestha
ABSTRACT
Not much is known about the association between menstrual disorders and physical activities in adolescent girls. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of menstrual disorders and their association with physical activity among adolescent girls in Aligarh city. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among 320 adolescent school going girls aged 14 -17 years over a period of 10 months. A predesigned pretested structured questionnaire cum interview schedule was used to collect data regarding age at menarche, menstrual cycle interval, menstrual flow length and period pain. Physical activity was assessed by the Physical activity questionnaire scale (PAQ-A). Chi-square and Pearson’s correlation test was applied using IBM SPSS version 21.0. Mean age at menarche was calculated as 12.60 ± 0.99 which ranges from 11 to 16 years. The overall prevalence of menstrual disorders was reported by 76.9%. The most common menstrual disorder was PMS (71.3%). Dysmenorrhoea was 46.3%, amenorrhoea (21.3%), oligomenorrhea (12.8%), polymenorrhea (22.2%), menorrhagia (15.9%) and hypomenorrhea (15%).The majority of adolescent attained menarche at an appropriate age. Dysmenorrhea and PMS are highly prevalent among girls in Aligarh. Strong inverse correlation (R= - 0.342, p>0.01) was found between physical activity and menstrual disorders. Dysmenorrhoea and PMS had highly inverse correlation (p> 0.01) while amenorrhoea and menorrhagia had mild inverse correlation (p> 0.05). PMS was the commonest menstrual disorder that interfered with the daily routine of the school girls. Hence, physical activity must be considered as a significant and important risk factor while identifying different types of menstrual disorder. There is an urgent need for menstrual health education so that the disorders underlined can be detected at the initial stage and can be treated in a better way.
Key words: menstrual disorders, physical activity, adolescent girls, dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome