Primary Dysmenorrhea Associated with Psychological Distress in Medical Sciences Students in The North of Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Primary dysmenorrhea is the usual medical status in medical students that are defined as pain<br />during the menstrual period. This study was done to evaluate the psychological problems associated with dysmenorrhea.<br />Materials and Methods: Three hundred forty students aged 18 to 20 years participated in this cross‑sectional<br />study (194 with dysmenorrhea and 150 without dysmenorrhea). In this cross‑sectional study, data were collected<br />through the sociodemographic checklist, the verbal multidimensional scoring system (VMS), and the revised<br />version of the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90-R) questionnaire using the convenience sampling method. This<br />questionnaire includes 9 Subscale and a GSI index. We considered psychological distress to be equivalent to<br />the Global Severity İndex (GSI), which is obtained by dividing 90 questions by 90. The significance level of the<br />tests was considered 0.05.<br />Results: The GSI of the SCL-90 score in the 194 students with dysmenorrhea and 150 students without dysmenorrhea<br />was 1.02 ± 0.42 and 0.34 ± 0.15 respectively (P<0.001). In the group with dysmenorrhea, the severity<br />of dysmenorrhea was significantly associated with a family history of dysmenorrhea and mother's education<br />(P=0.012 and P=0.037, respectively). The strongest predictors of GSI>1 were a family history of dysmenorrhea<br />and mother's education [odds ratio (OR)=2.33, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43-4.15 and OR=0.45, 95% CI,<br />0.24-0.87, respectively].<br />Conclusion: According to the result, dysmenorrhea is associated with psychological distress. Psychological interventions<br />and counseling in addition to drug treatment are suggested for treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.<br />Therefore, it is necessary to formulate strategies and health policies to recover psychological issues of menstrual<br />health.