Menstrual Abnormalities and Body Adiposity among the Poumai Women of Manipur, North East India

Abstract

Abstract Objective The present study aims to understand the prevalence of certain menstrual abnormalities among the adolescents and adults of the Poumai tribe of Manipur and explore the association of anthropometric variables and body adiposity with menstrual disorders. Materials and Methods The study is a cross-sectional study conducted on 1,008 Poumai women among the reproductive age groups, consisting of 496 adolescents and 512 adults. Menstrual history was collected from each participant, and menstrual abnormalities in the menstrual frequency and flow volume were identified per the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics classification. Relative indices of the measured anthropometric variables defined body adiposity. Descriptive statistics and tests of significance were calculated. Regression odd ratio analysis was also conducted to infer the odds ratio risk of menstrual abnormalities. Results The overall prevalence of menstrual frequent and infrequent is 8.2% and 19.6%, respectively, where frequent is more prevalent in adolescents and infrequent in adults. Note that 15.4% and 5.6% of the women have a heavy and light flow, while comparatively, adults have a higher prevalence of heavy and light flow than adolescents. Anthropometric variables are associated with menstrual frequency abnormalities among adolescents, while these variables are associated with menstrual frequency and flow volume abnormalities in adults. Higher body adiposity has a higher odd ratio to the studied menstrual abnormalities, significantly with light menstrual flow. Conclusion Disparity observed in the menstrual abnormalities among adolescents and adults could reflect hormonal changes. The association of obesity with menstrual abnormalities highlights the concern of weight management that can lead to healthy reproductive health in women.