Prevalence of Dysmenorrhea and its Impact on Daily Activities among Women in Babylon City

Abstract

Background: Dysmenorrhea is an essentially menstruation-connected problem among menstruating women worldwide and it negatively affects the quality of life. It evaluates by means of prevalence determination. These factors are not scientifically evaluated yet. Statistical studies about prevalence of dysmenorrhea, symptoms, and relieving treatments are too scant in Iraq. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of dysmenorrhea among menstruating women in Babylon city, Iraq, to estimate the impact of dysmenorrhea on women’s lifestyle, and to examine the coping mechanisms based on the women’s experience to reduce dysmenorrhea’s density. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to select a random sample of 270 women in Babylon city. The mean age of the participants was 30.02 ± 8.29 years. Several questionnaires were designed to collect the data including sociodemographic characteristics, menstrual characteristics, habits and emotional factors, and relieving factors. Data were analyzed byusing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program, version 26.0 with P < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. All ethical procedures were taken into account. Results: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 85.9% (n = 232) after considering that it defines as abdominal pain. The finding shows that dysmenorrhea was significantly associated with duration of menstruation (P = 0.05), dizziness (P = 0.046), nausea and vomiting (P = 0.015), and fatigue (P = 0.008), skipping breakfast (0.012), and mood change (0.006). Regarding the relieving factors, the significance was reported with mostly ignoring the pain (0.001), practicing self-medication (0.022), and using home remedies to reduce the pain (0.001). However, the association with effects on daily life (P = 0.150) was reported to be insignificant. Conclusions: The proportion of dysmenorrhea among Babylonian women is very high and attracts attention. Skipping breakfast, ignoring the pain, never caring for a medical consult, and lacking of regular physical exercise were specified as the most active predictors of dysmenorrhea. Increasing awareness among women regarding dysmenorrhea, associated symptoms, risk factors, and relieving mechanisms were highly recommended.