: Dysmenorrhea and impact on Quality of Life

Abstract

Background: Dysmenorrhea, painful menstruation, is a common chronic condition of pain that affects a wide range of young women capable of reducing their quality of life, decrease their ability to function at a 100 percent and ultimately causing a reduction in productively for the affected person for a period of time. Many studies have shown that the level of knowledge about dysmenorrhea is unsatisfactory especially in young women and that it indeed has the ability to disrupt a peaceful flow in rhythm and pattern of women in executing daily activities, the aim of this study is therefore to determine the true extent at which dysmenorrhea interferes with daily activities. Materials and Methods: Data collection was done using an 18-item self-administered questionnaire developed to capture the aim of this study between September and November, 2016. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 11.5 (SPSS 11.5). Descriptive statistics of socio-demographic information, menstrual history and symptoms of participants regarding dysmenorrhea as well as impact on quality of life were determined and reported in the forms of mean, standard deviation, proportions and percentages.   Results: The average participant’s age was 20 years +/- 1.206 years (ranging from 17-30 years). 24% (76) were found to be less than 20 years of age whereas only 8% (25) were above 22 years of age. Most of the responders, 68% (216) fell within the age group of 20-24. The mean BMI of the participants was 22.03 +/- 2.27 kg/m2 (ranging from 16.8 kg/m2 to 33.04 kg/m2 ). Most of the participants had a normal BMI (18.5-25) which was around 69% of the total participants. Participants in the underweight and overweight categories had almost equal distribution with 17% were and 14% respectively Conclusion: Dysmenorrhea is a common health problem and high gynecological referral rate due to its high prevalence rate. It exerts a significant effect on the daily activities and a detrimental effect on the quality of life among the female population