Prevalence of Menstrual Disorders and its Relationship With Quality of Life in Female High School Students

Abstract

Background: Menstrual disorders in female students in the early years after menarche affect their physical, emotional and social functions. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of menstrual disorders among female high school students and its relationship with their Quality of Life. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1000 high school girls in Qazvin, Iran during 2017-2018. Their menstrual disorders and quality of life were evaluated by a demographic checklist and KIDSCREEN questionnaire, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent t-test. Findings: The mean age of high school girls was 15.9±0.93 years. The most common disorder was Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) with a prevalence of 60%. Their quality of life had a significant relationship with PMS, menorrhagia, metorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, spotting, hypermenorrhea (P<0.001), polymenorrhea (P=0.005), hypomnorrhea (P=0.002) and amenorrhea (P=0.025). The quality of life of girls with these disorders were poorer compared to the girls with no menstrual disorder. Conclusion: Menstrual disorders are highly prevalent among female students, and have a considerable impact on their quality of life. Since this impact has the potential to have longer-term consequences, more efforts are needed to address and treat menstrual disorders in female students.