Reaction and attitude of medical and paramedical lady students towards womanhood, menstruation, and reproductive events

To explore the reaction and attitude of preclinical lady students towards certain aspects of female reproduction, custom-made questionnaires were group-administered to two batches of Second MBBS students (mean age + or - SD: 20.3 + or - 0.5 yr; n=443) of Yangon Institutes of Medicine, and to the First and Second Year students (19.9 + or - 1.0 yr; n=114) of Yangon Institutes of Pharmacy and Paramedical Sciences. Menarche alarmed or upset about half (47.03

) of therespondents while 42.9

reported indifference. Almost 80

of the respondents hadprior knowledge about menarche. The proportion of respondents who accepted menstrual periods as natural (32.9

) was about the same as those distressed by the periods (32.7

). Those expressing positive attitudes towards marriage, childbearing and womanhood outnumbered those expressing negative ones (30

vs 12.2

, 43.6

vs 11.1

, 41.4

vs 20.8

respectively). Certain differences in the responses amongthese groups of Myanmar students and a group of Japanes students (n=28, exposed to the same question-naires) were highlighted and the implications discussed.

Hormonal profile comparison of women with menstrual symptoms and those without, in a population of medical students

This study was carried out on 102 medical students attending the 2nd M.B.,N.S course, inthe Institute of Medicine (1) at the Department of Physiology, between the period of April 1994 to May 1994. Out of 102 volunteers, 74.5 percent had premenstrual symptoms: PMS (+), and 25.5 percent were symptoms free: PMS(-). The mean menarcheal age of PMS(-) group was 12.8 + 0.8 yrs whereas PMS(+) was 13.1 + 1.2 yrs. Student's "t" test showed that they were not significantly different. In the PMS(+) group the commonest symptom was hritability and abdominal pain (26.4 percent and 25.2 percent, respectively). 21.9 percent presented with fullness and bloating. 13.2 percent had headaches and 13.2 percent presented with weight gain. A hormonal profile using immunometric assay kit to determine FSH, LH, PRL and Progesterone level was carried out during the follicular, peri-ovulatory and luteal phases. The levels were within the normal standard range. Mann- Whitney's test showed that there was no significant differences between the PMS(+) and PMS(-) groups. This study suggests that hormonal level differences may not be responsible for the symptoms.