Evaluation of Menorrhagia in Adolescent Girls: A Clinical Study

Abstract

The objective of present study is to evaluate the menorrhagia among unmarried adolescent girls attending the outpatient department of Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati. A total of 111 girls of 10—19yrs, (pregnancy excluded) attending gynae OPD, with menstrual disorders were studied with detailed history and physical examination. Investigations like haemogram, coagulogram profile, hormonal assays, sonography, etc. were done as and when required. Menorrhagia was the commonest menstrual disorder 37/111 (33.33%) followed by oligomenorrhoea 23/111 (20.72%), dysmenorrhoea 22/111 (19.82%), metrorrhagia 19/111 (17.11%), amenorrhoea 8/111(5.52%), Polymenorrhoea 2/111 (1.80%). The commonest pattern of bleeding in the menorrhagic adolescents was regular menorrhagia(51.35%) followed by Menometrorhagia (29.73%), Polymenorrhagia (10.81%) and metropathic type (8.11%).Majority of the adolescents with menorrhagia had their menarche between 12 to 14 years (70.27%) . 27.03% cases started menorrhagia within 6 months of menarche; while 37.84% within 2 yrs and 91.89% within 3 yrs of menarche. Almost 80% of the patients had haemoglobin level below 9gm% while in 37.84% had 6 gm% or below 6gm%. Dysfunctional uterine bleeding was the most frequent cause (67.57%) as expected followed by PCOS (13.51%), Hypothyroidism (10.81%), uterine fibroid (5.4%) and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (2.7%). Menorrhagia is the commonest menstrual disorder of adolescents. Adolescent girls suffer from various degree of menorrhagia which should never be over looked. By setting up specialized adolescent clinic, we can give greater momentum to adolescent gynaecology.