Study of the Severity of Primary Dysmenorrhea and its Associated Characteristics among University Students

Abstract

Background: Primary dysmenorrhea is one of the most prevalent issues in women’s health care, which affects half of the population in the reproductive age. The present research aimed to evaluate the severity of primary dysmenorrhea and its associated characteristics among the university students in Ahvaz, Iran.Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 80 college students suffering from dysmenorrhea were randomly recruited. All the required data were gathered via demographic questionnaire, Visual Analoge Sclae (VAS), Pictorial Blood Assessment Chart (PBAC), and Symptom Severity Score (SSS) during two consecutive menstrual cycles from Aprill 20 to June 20, 2016. Furthermore, descriptive statistics (frequency and mean) and analytical statistics (Pearson’s correlation coefficient) were used. P<0.05 was considered as the level of significance.Results: The mean±SD of menstrual pain of the participants was 6.6±1.5 out of 10. Most of them (61.2%) suffered from moderate dysmenorrhea. Mean±SD of their age was 21.1±2.0 years and their age at menarche was 12.9±1.2 years. A significant number of the participants (85%) claimed to use drugs to relieve the menstrual pain, with the most common onebeing Ibuprofen (41.2%), usually taken orally at the onset of menstruation. Moreover, analysis of the results revealed a significant correlation among all the items of Symptom Severity Score (SSS) and pain severity (P<0.001), except sensitivity and depression. However, the duration and amount of menstrual bleeding was not significantly correlated with pain severity.Conclusions: Choosing the right approach to managing and educating women with menstrual pain-associated symptoms can reduce the adverse impact of dysmenorrhea on their quality of life.

Keywords

• dysmenorrhea
• menstruation
• college health
• premenstrual syndrome
• menstrual pain
• students