Prevalence of Dysmennorrhea among Women

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea is condition of pain experienced by women during menstruation. A great majority of women of reproductive age go through this suffering. It incapacitates the women, affects their social participation and quality of life. Good menstrual health and hygiene is of utmost importance for the overall well-being and empowerment of women. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of dysmenorrhea among women. It is exploratory research to understand the severity of problem in Kurnool city of Andhra Pradesh. The sample comprised of 120 women of 15- 45years of age. Data was collected through door-to-door survey in the community by using a semi structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic details, regularity and pain experienced during menstruation, hygienic practices and any socio-cultural restrictions imposed on women during menstruation. The result revealed that though 87% of the women are getting their period regularly, yet 72% of them experience pain during menstruation. Among these around 17.5% of the women get severe pain and 10% of them take medicines to get relief from pain. All the women live in urban area, they have access to better sanitation facilities. At the time of menstruation, many of them (67%) try to take rest and massage with pain balm, hot therapy (23%) and they too make necessary dietary changes during menstruation to reduce the pain and discomfort. Majority of the women (89%) undergoes or adopted to cultural and social restrictions imposed during menstruation.