Menstrual pattern and abnormalities in the high school girls of Dharan: a cross sectional study in two boarding schools.

ABSTRACT

Puberty is the biological transition between the immature and adult reproductive function. This study has been carried out to find out the menstrual pattern, and awareness of the abnormalities in menstrual pattern among school going pubertal age group girls in Dharan. It has been carried out with the aim to follow it with school health education. Cross sectional study was done in 96 girls of two different school of Dharan of the age group ranging from 11 years to 17 years. The median age of menarche was 12 years. There were 6.9% cases of oligomennorhea and 10.0% of hypomenorhea. Menorrhagia was seen in 6.2% of the girls. Spasmodic dysmenorrhea was seen in 67.0% of the girls but the daily activity was hampered only in 20.0%. Out of the 96 students 73.0% were prepared psychologically beforehand. Very less students (8.0%) knew only very little about the abnormalities in menstruation, rest were ignorant about it. Thus, it was seen that these school going girls needed education about the abnormalities of menstruation so that they can differentiate the normal phenomenon from abnormality and report in time in case of aberrance in the menstrual cycle.