Menstrual disorders in adolescence.

Abstract

AbstractOf 380 adolescents who attended Eden Hospital, Calcutta Medical College, India, over a 9 month period, 215 had some menstrual problem. There were 75 cases with primary amenorrhoea, 28 with secondary amenorrhoea, 42 with oligomenorr‐hoea, and 70 with excessive bleeding.Primary amenorrhoea stood out as the commonest serious disorder. Leaving aside delayed menarche, majority of its causes including Mullerian Tract abnormalities, Gonadal dysgenesis and chromosomal aberrations are determined in utero. These require only modest skill for diagnosis and are mostly absolute barriers to fertility.Secondary amenorrhoea although potentially less serious requires more investigations. Nutritional disturbances, polycystic ovarian disease, and genital tuberculosis are important causes.Oligomenorrhoea', commoner than secondary amenorrhoea may be paraphysi‐ological during early adolescence. However severe oligomenorrhoea may have causes similar to secondary amenorrhoea.Puberty menorrhagia is the commonest cause for emergency hospital admission in teenagers. Although most cases are dysfunctional, the organic causes should be carefully excluded.