Attainment Of Menarche Research Articles

Pattern of physical growth and pubertal changes in adolescent girls with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

ABSTRACT Aims: To study the pattern of physical growth and pubertal changes in adolescent girls with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Methods and Material: Weight, height, BMI, waist and hip circumference among 50 adolescent SLE girls (aged 8–17 years) were cross-sectionally studied using standardized techniques and instruments. Breast development stage, presence or absence of pubic and axillary hair and age of attainment of menarche were also noted. Results: With the advancement of age, weight and height of SLE girls increased but they were lighter and shorter compared to normal Indian peers. 18.4% of study girls were short-statured while only one participant was underweight. As per mid-parental height, 34.3% were predicted to have shorter final heights. BMI demonstrated an inconsistent trend with 12.3% and 9.2% being obese and overweight, respectively. Interestingly, 10.7% of SLE girls were at risk of metabolic syndrome (waist circumference >70th centile). About 50% of study girls had attained menarche (mean age: 13.04 ± 1.38 years). Appearance of pubic and axillary hair occurred around 1 year later than attainment of menarche. 33.80% of study subjects were in prepubertal stage of breast development and rest 66.20% were in advanced stages of breast development. SLE girls who had younger age at diagnosis and longer duration of therapy had significant delay in breast development and attainment of menarche. Conclusions: SLE girls show delayed growth and pubertal attainments compared to their normal Indian and Western counterparts. The data presented will provide an understanding of the auxological dynamics and pattern of pubertal changes among adolescent girls with SLE living in north-western India.

Growth and Puberty Attainment of Girls with Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Pattern of physical growth and pubertal changes among 59 girls, aged 8-15 years, diagnosed as cases of HIV on anti-retroviral therapy was cross-sectionally studied. Besides, measurement of body weight, height, and body mass index, breast development stage, presence or absence of pubic and axillary hair, and age of attainment of menarche were also noted in these subjects in the growth clinic of the department. With the advancement of age, the weight and height of HIV girls increased; however, they were lighter and shorter compared to their normal peers. 15.3% of HIV girls were short-statured and underweight. None of the study participants were found to be overweight or obese. 40.7% of HIV girls had attained menarche (mean age: 12.58 ± 1.349 years). The appearance of pubic (13.45 ± 1.64 years) and axillary hair (13.73 ± 1.41 years) occurred around 1 year later. The delayed physical growth and puberty attainment of HIV girls than their normal counterparts may be due to the influence of the disease.

A Prospective Study of the Age at Menarche in North Indian Girls, Its Association With the Tanner Stage, and the Secular Trend.

Background Menarche is an important event in a female's reproductive health. However, the age at menarche is variable and has implications on the future health of the girl. The purpose of this study was to estimate the mean age at menarche of North Indian adolescent girls and its association with the Tanner stageand to study the trend of menarcheal age in India in the 21st century. Materials & methods A longitudinal descriptive study was conducted on 470 healthy girls aged nine to 16 years in expectant menarche (Tanner stage II). They were followed for six months to check for the attainment of menarche. Those who achieved menarche were grouped in Group I and the rest in Group II. The data were analyzed using the independent t-test. Results Menarche was achieved by 263 girls in the six-month follow-up period. The mean (SD) age of menarche was 13.13 (1.23) years. Group I girls were mostly in Tanner stage IV and above. Group II girls had a mean (SD) age of 11.53 (1.1) years and were mostly in Tanner stage III or below. The estimated decline in the age of menarche in the 21st century was about 0.41 years per decade. Conclusion The girls who achieved menarche had a significantly higher age and Tanner stage of sexual maturity than girls who did not achieve menarche in the study period. Tanner stage is a better measure to estimate the pubertal onset than age. The studies on the age of menarche in the current century reveal that the declining trend in the menarcheal age is continuing in India.

Prevalence of Anemia among Adolescent Girls in Rural Area of a District of Maharashtra

Introduction: Nutritional anemia is one of India’s major public health problems. Adolescence is a vulnerable period in the human life cycle for the development of nutritional anemia. Anemia in adolescent girls contributes to maternal and foetal mortality and morbidity in future. Aim and Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls and to study the sociodemographic factors associated with anemia. Method: It was a community based cross sectional study in 10 villages of a district. 420 adolescent girls were interviewed using a predesigned, pretested questionnaire, and their anemic status was assessed by hemoglobin estimation. Results were analyzed by using percentage, proportion and Chi-square test, with the help of Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS version 20.0 statistical software. Result: Mean age of the study sample was 14.01 ± 2.57 years. The majority (64.8%) of the girls were Hindu by religion and belonged to a nuclear family (53.6%). 45.2 % were educated up to high school level. Most of the girls belonged to socioeconomic class IV (46.0%). The prevalence of anemia in this study was found to be 65.7%. The prevalence of mild and moderate anemia among study participants was 32.6 and 29.8%, respectively. A statistically significant association was found between the prevalence of anemia with age group, educational status of both father and mother, and status of attainment of menarche (p<0.05). Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls was very high; therefore, attempts must be made to sensitize adolescents and their parents through health and nutrition education, information, education, and communication (IEC), and appropriate behavioral change communication (BCC) activities.

Prevalence And Determinants of Anemia Among Adolescents in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu – A School Based Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

Context: The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of anemia among adolescents 10 to 19 years of age disaggregated by age group and gender. We also assessed the determinants of anemia among adolescents. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out between July and November 2019 in a senior secondary public school, located in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India using a predesigned, semi-structured, pretested proforma that included haemoglobin estimation using oxyhemoglobin method. Results: The overall prevalence of anemia was 88.6% (95% CI 87.2 to 89.8); it was ten percent points higher in females (93.8%, 95% CI 92.1 to 95.1) compared to males (83.9%, 95% CI 81.7 to 85.8). Multivariate regression analysis showed that early adolescents (AOR 3.05, 95% CI 2.19 to 4.24), females (AOR 6.94, 95% CI 4.90 to 9.83), those with A or B or AB blood groups (AOR 2.58, 95% CI 1.92 to 3.49), physical inactivity (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.43 to 3.33) and attainment of menarche (AOR 2.69, 95% CI 1.73 to 4.21) were independent predictors of anemia in adolescents. Conclusion: It is the need of the hour to identify vulnerable groups; factors that predict occurrence, prioritize them to design and implement an effective public health action. Also, the effectiveness of existing strategies in the form of periodic deworming, Iron and Folic acid tablets (IFA) should be reassessed.

A study to determine age at menarche and its relationship with nutritional and socio-demographic status in selected government schools Belagavi, Karnataka: A cross-sectional study

Menarche is the occurrence of first menstrual blood flow or menses in a female adolescent. Nutritional status and socio-demographic status plays an important role in the attainment of menarche. Girls with good nutritional status will get menarche in proper age compared to malnutrition girls and overweight girls. Both excess nutritional intake and insufficient nutritional intake will greatly affect the age at menarche.To determine the age at menarche and to find the nutritional profile of adolescent school girls from selected government schools, Belagavi. It is to find an association between age at menarche and nutritional profile, and socio-demographic factors. Cross sectional study done in 116 adolescent girls of age group between 11-16 years in selected government schools in Belagavi. 15 schools were selected by simple random sampling from each school 8 girls were selected using systematic random sampling. Data entry was done using the Microsoft office tools and analysis was done using IBM SPSS 21. The average age at menarche was 12.4±1.0 years. The majority of the participants' BMI was normal, i.e., 56 (48.28%), and 53 (45.69%) participants were underweighted. 99 (85.3%) of the participants are from an upper-middle-class family. The present study concluded that the mean age at menarche was 12.4±1.0 years. There was no significant association between menarcheal age and sociodemographic status or anthropometric measurements, but there was an association between menarcheal age and body aches and nutritional status. Good nutritional status declines the age at menarche.

Comparison of awareness and perception of menstrual hygiene between pre and postmenarchal adolescents of North India

Context:Menstruation is a normal physiologic phenomenon. Due to lack of awareness regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls in India, majority have unhygienic practices which make them vulnerable to various adverse health and social outcomes.Aims and Objective:The aim of this study was to compare the awareness and perception of pre- and postmenarchal adolescent girls regarding menstrual hygiene.Settings and Design:A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatrics of a Government tertiary care center, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh for 6 months from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019.Material and Methods:The study was undertaken among 120 adolescent girls between 09 and 19 years of age. Premenarchal age group was from 9 to 12 years and postmenarchal was 13–19 years. All the adolescent girls who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were subjected to a pretested prevalidated semi-structured questionnaire assessing their awareness and perceptions regarding menstrual hygiene.Result:Of 120 respondents, 43 girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. Mother was the first informant regarding menstruation in the case of 49 (49.65%) girls. A total of 57 girls believed it as a physiological process. 32 (53.3%) girls knew the use of sanitary pads during menstruation. Regarding restrictions practiced, 136 (85%) girls practiced different restrictions during menstruation.Conclusion:Adolescent girls, being vulnerable, need to have adequate and correct awareness regarding menstrual hygiene. This will protect them from risk of developing reproductive or sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI) which is a burden on our society and render many females infertile and cause other adverse health outcomes.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE RECEDING AGE OF ONSET OF MENARCHE IN YOUNG GIRLS – AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Background: The time of first menarche is an important milestone in female sexual maturation. Studies have shown trends of decreasing age of menarche in most Indian states. Objective: To trace the factors associated with receding age at menarche and to evaluate the strength of association between those factors with receding age at menarche. Materials and methods: An observational study was done in the schools in Davangere from July 2018 to June 2019. 372 menstruating girls between the age of 9–15 years were included in the study. The participants data regarding chronological age, age of menarche, socioeconomic status, physical activity and diet were collected using a questionnaire. The anthropometric measurements were taken using standard techniques and general physical examination was done for all the participants. Results: The mean age of attainment of menarche was 11.94 ± 1.02 years. The study had a strong association between age at menarche and socioeconomic status (p<0.001). Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) was inversely and significantly associated with age of menarche (p<0.01). Conclusion: The world wide trends of declining age of menarche were seen in our study too. The factors affecting being mother’s age of menarche, BMI, Waist circumference and higher socioeconomic status. This underline that further evaluation of factors associated with it and studying future implications of lower age at menarche is important.

The Association between Sex Hormones, Pubertal Milestones and Benzophenone-3 (BP-3) Exposure Assessed by Urinary Biomarker or Questionnaire

Introduction: Experimental studies have suggested endocrine disruption by BP-3, an active ingredient in sunscreen, with widespread exposure around the world. Methods: We recruited girls ages 6 - 8 years who returned semi-annually for pubertal maturation staging (thelarche, pubarche), to provide blood for serum hormone assay [estradiol, estrone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S)], and urine for BP-3 assay. Parents completed yearly questionnaires on participant’s past-year sunscreen use and attainment of menarche. Quantile regression determined the relationship between each log-transformed sex hormone with BP-3 exposure, measured by either biomarker (with half-life of 16 hours) or sunscreen questionnaire (use over the last year). Cox-proportional hazards models examined whether higher quartile of BP-3 exposure was associated with age-of-pubertal milestone. Results: The median value of baseline BP-3 measurements was 25.0 μg/g-creatinine (N=353), with detection in 98.9% of samples. The median number of days sunscreen was used in the past year was 48 days (N=302). There was no evidence of associations between any of the four hormones and the BP-3 biomarker. Testosterone, measured at the time of thelarche, was inversely associated with sunscreen use by questionnaire data (N=157, adjusted β= -0.0163, 97.5%CI: -0.0300, -0.0026). There was no evidence of association between sunscreen use by questionnaire and testosterone during other time windows (-6 months and +6 months) or other hormones at any time points. Age-of-Thelarche was later among participants in the 2nd quartile of BP-3 biomarker compared to the 1st quartile (N=282, adjusted HR=1.5900, 97.5%CI:1.0430-2.4230). Age-of-menarche and age-of-pubarche were not different among participants in different biomarker or questionnaire quartiles. Conclusions: Results suggest that higher report of sunscreen use was associated with lower testosterone levels during thelarche and a non-linear relationship between age-of-thelarche and BP-3 biomarker. Results using questionnaire and biomarker to represent exposure are not completely consistent with each other, thus conclusions should be interpreted with caution.

A study of menstrual hygiene management in urban and rural adolescent girls in Ambala (Haryana)

Background: Adolescent girls often lack knowledge regarding reproductive health including menstruation hygiene. Poor menstrual hygiene can be a precursor reproductive tract infections and even cancer cervix. Objectives: To study the menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban school going adolescent girls Material and Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 420 adolescent girls (10 - 19 years). A self-designed semi- structured questionnaire was used to study the knowledge and practise regarding menstrual hygiene. Results: Knowledge about menstruation before attainment of menarche was 69% in urban and 58.9% in rural. Mother was the main source of information. Still 23.6% girls were using cloth or towels as menstrual absorbent, and 26.6% girls in rural area were washing their menstrual absorbent to be reused.91.7% and 81% girls had some restriction during menstruation Conclusion: Awareness in urban adolescent girls was more in comparison to rural girls. The usage of sanitary pads was similar in both rural and urban areas. Menstrual hygiene was better in urban than rural areas. It is imperative that adolescent girls be educated about the, significance of menstruation, and proper hygienic practices during menstruation. Sex education in school curriculum can help in resolving misconceptions about menstruation.

A study of menstrual hygiene among rural adolescent school girls in rural field practice area of a medical college, Davangere- a cross sectional study

Background: Adolescence in girls signifies the transition from girlhood to womanhood; one fifth of world population is between 10 and 19 years old. Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to the females. Menstruation is a monthly occurrence that requires access to appropriate materials and facilities, without which, females suffer from poor menstrual hygiene which restricts their movement and self-confidence. Increased knowledge about menstruation right from childhood may escalate safe practices and may help in mitigating the suffering of millions of women.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 200 adolescent girls in a rural field practice area of S. S. Institute of Medical Sciences. Data on socio-economic variables and menstrual characteristics were collected using pre-tested questionnaires for a period of two months from September to October 2018.Results: Total of 200 girls was interviewed. 87.6% of the girls were aware about menstruation prior to the attainment of menarche. Mothers were the first informants in about 56.5% girls. Overall 51.5% adolescent girls were using sanitary napkins as menstrual absorbent, while 45.6% were using used cloths. 97.6% girls practiced different restrictions during menstruation. Some of the sociodemographic factors like religion, type of family and mother’s education, SES were significantly associated with menstrual hygienic practices.Conclusions: There is a need to educate the girls about menstruation, its importance and hygiene maintenance; to enable them to lead a healthy reproductive life in future.

A comparative study of knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among private and government schools of Jaipur city

Background: Menstruation is a normal physiological process to the females but sometimes it is considered as unclean phenomenon in the society. Hence this community based study was carried out with the objective to assess the difference in level of knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene among school going adolescent girls of government and private school.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2017 to April 2018 to find out the difference in prevailing knowledge and practices regarding menstrual hygiene between private and government school going adolescent girls of Jaipur city. Data were collected by the predesigned and pretested structured questionnaire.Results: 87.57% girls from private schools were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. The difference in knowledge regarding menstruation in students of private and government school was significant. More than three fourth of the participants (76.95%) were from private school use sanitary pad.Conclusions: Knowledge and practice regarding menstruation was better in private school girls as compared to those of government school. Significantly more number of girls in the private schools was using sanitary pads as compared to government school girls.

Study of sexual maturity rating among female adolescents who have attained menarche

Background: Adolescence is an important stage in the growth and development of girls. There has been a change in sectorial trend in the onset of puberty menarche. Thus, this study is designed to study the change in sectorial trend. In this background the study has been framed with these objectives, to correlate the attainment of menarche among the subjects in relation to their mothers and to study the sexual maturity rating among the study subjects.Methods: This is a cross sectional observation study involving 70 female adolescent girls. Data was collected from study subjects admitted in the department of Pediatrics, KIMS Hospital and those visiting KIMS OPD during September 2018 to February 2019. Study Subjects were examined by the female investigator and data on anthropometry, Tanner SMR staging, and other examination findings were collected using a pretested standardized questionnaire, after taking the consent. Subjects were divided based on the age into six groups.Results: The mean age of attainment of menarche is 12.36 years and mean age at menarche in mothers was 14.18 years. In this study the earliest age of attainment of menarche is 10 years. In our study most of the subjects attained menarche between 12-13 years, which is earlier than the age of attainment of menarche in the mothers which was 14-15 years. All the subjects who attained menarche were in SMR Breast stages 3, 4 and 5 and pubic hair stages 2, 3, 4 and 5.Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the ages of attainment of menarche in the mothers and the subjects in this study it is found that there is a positive correlation between age, weight, height and SMR Stages.

Determinants of menstrual hygiene among school going adolescent girls in urban areas of Hyderabad

Background: The word adolescent is derived from the Latin word “adolescere”, which means to grow into maturity. The adolescent girls get debarred due to various social misconceptions, lack of privacy, illiteracy of parents, especially mother, low socioeconomic conditions, and lack of proper health awareness and education about this sensitive issue which ultimately results this age group into vulnerability to reproductive tract infections, which can be reduced by improving the knowledge about the menstrual hygiene.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among school going adolescent girls during the month of November 2018. Data was collected using a questionnaire which includes socio-demographic variables and menstrual hygiene practices. Sample size of the study was 69 students. The assessment of knowledge was done as good knowledge (score: >5/10) poor knowledge (score <5/10). The of data and the. All the data collected was entered and analysed with MS excel software 2007.Results: 28.1% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche.. Major source of information about menstruation is mother (53.6%). More than 80% of adolescent girls are using sanitary pads as an absorbent. Lack of disposal facility and lack of water supply are reasons for school absenteeism.Conclusions: In this study the knowledge of menstruation hygiene among the study population is significantly associated with mother’s education and occupation.

Assessment of menopausal symptoms in different transition phases using the Greene Climacteric Scale among rural women of North India

Background: Menopause is the universal physiological process of women’s midlife and exhibits a wide variety of symptoms. However, there is little data on the menopausal symptoms and factors associated with their severity among rural Indian women.Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of menopausal symptoms during the different transition phases of menopause among rural women of North India.Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study consisted of 351 women aged 35–55 years (mean age 44.6 years) residing in rural areas of North India. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data regarding menopausal status, demographic profile and reproductive history of the participants. Frequency and severity of menopausal symptoms were evaluated using the Greene Climacteric Scale in different stages of menopause. All statistical procedures were accomplished using SPSS version 19.0.Results: In the present study the mean ages of attainment of menarche and menopause were 14.3 years and 47.2 years, respectively. Mean score of total Greene Climacteric Scale was highest among perimenopausal women (16.12 ± 8.1) over post-menopausal (14.78 ± 7.3) and pre-menopausal women (11.08 ± 6.1). Logistic regression analysis revealed that advancing age, low educational attainment, low socioeconomic status, menopausal status, later age at menarche and higher BMI were all associated with more severe menopausal symptoms.Conclusion: The climacteric symptoms were more prevalent among women who were perimenopausal followed by post-menopausal women and were the lowest in pre-menopausal women. Age, menopausal status, socio-economic status, and reproductive factors significantly influenced the severity of menopausal symptoms.

Is menarche really occurring earlier? A study of secondary school girls in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Context: A secular trend of progressively earlier attainment of menarche has been described in various populations. The existence of this trend in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, has not been documented. Aim: To determine the current age of menarche and its trend in comparison with previous studies among secondary school girls in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Settings and Design: School-based cross-sectional analytical study. Materials and Methods: Three-hundred secondary school girls in the lower four classes (JSS 1--SSS 1) were studied. Sociodemographic and menstrual data such as cycle length, duration of menstrual flow, and presence of dysmenorrhoea were obtained using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The mean age at menarche was compared with figures from previous local studies to determine the trend in Ile-Ife. Menstrual characteristics were also analyzed. Statistical Analysis: Data was analyzed with SPSS version 20. Means and standard deviations were generated for continuous variables, while frequencies and proportions were determined for categorical variables. Results: Out of the 300 subjects studied, a total of 198 (66%) had attained menarche at the time of this study. Their reported ages at menarche ranged from 11 to 17 years with a mean of 13.08 ± 1.61 years. This was lower than the 13.98 ± 1.30 and 13.94 ± 1.31 years reported in Ile-Ife in 1992 and 1997, respectively. These three figures show a trend of progressive decline in the mean age at menarche. The subjects' mean duration of menstrual flow was 4.26 ± 0.87 days, with 97.5% of them reporting flow of ≤5 days. Only 22 (11.1%) of the respondents had a cycle length of 28 days. Dysmenorrhoea was reported by 75% of the respondents and 24% reported loss of concentration during periods. Conclusion: Similar to the widely reported secular trend, menarche indeed appears to be occurring progressively earlier in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Knowledge and Practice Gap for Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent School Girls of Tribal District of Maharashtra, India: A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Hygiene-related practices of adolescents during menstruation are of importance, as poor hygiene might increase vulnerability to reproductive tract infections (RTI). Therefore, increased knowledge about menstruation right from childhood may escalate safe practices and may help in mitigating the suffering of women. Aims and Objectives: (1) To assess the knowledge and practices about menstrual hygiene among school going adolescent girls. (2) To evaluate health seeking behaviour among the study subjects. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study done in three randomly selected Government High Schools in tribal District Palghar from Jan-Feb 2018. A pre-designed, pre-tested and structured questionnaire was used. Data were compiled in an Excel sheet and were analysed by using EPI info statistical software (version2.3.1). Results: A total of 277 girls were interviewed, the mean age was 14 years. Majority of girls were aware about menstruation prior to the attainment of menarche. Mothers were first informant in about 69.6% girls. But correct reason and source of bleeding was not known to most of respondents. Overall 63.8% adolescent girls were using sanitary napkins as menstrual absorbent while 36.1%were using old used cloth and 13.7%were using both. Conclusion: There is need to educate the girls about menstruation, its importance and hygiene maintenance so as to enable them to have healthy and productive life in future.

A cross-sectional study on menstrual hygiene practices among school going adolescent girls (10-19 years) of Government Girls Inter College, Saifai, Etawah

Background: Menstrual hygiene is a key concern of adolescent health. Females spend around six to seven years of their lives menstruating. Still the menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is mostly neglected. Menstrual hygiene is a taboo; even females are uncomfortable discussing and educating their daughters about this topic. To understand the problem faced by females during menstruation specially in their adolescent age this study was conducted. This study was done to find out knowledge about menstrual hygiene, to study hygiene related practices among school going adolescent girls of Government Girls Inter College (GGIC), Saifai, Etawah.Methods: School based cross-sectional study was undertaken among the adolescent school going girls of GGIC, who were purposively selected. All girls of between the age group of 10 19 years who have attained menarche were selected and the sample size came out to be 212.Results: The mean age of attainment of menarche was 13.17 years with majority of girls having no idea about menstruation before menarche (76.4%). 48.6% girls used only sanitary pads as the absorbent material. It was concluded that there is significant association between the absorbent material used and the socio-economic status of the family (p=0.03173).Conclusions: There is a need of accurate and adequate information about menstruation and its effective management. The restrictions which are imposed on girls during menstruation should be understood and dealt in a proper way. Thus this study was conducted.

A comparative study of menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban adolescent girls in Mangaluru, Karnataka

Background: Menstruation is a completely normal biological process. Yet women and girls, the world over, face numerous challenges and taboos which often portray them as inferior to men. Poor hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools cause girls to experience menstruation as shameful and uncomfortable. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the status of menstrual hygiene management among rural and urban adolescent school girls.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from 01 September 2016 to 31 October 2016, among 244 adolescent school girls, in urban and rural field practice areas of A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences of Research, Mangaluru, Karnataka.Results: A total of 244 adolescent school girls participated in this study. Out of these, 54.17% girls were from rural, while 45.83% were from the urban school. Mean age of menarche of all the respondents was 12.61±0.81 years. Overall, 69.67% girls were aware of menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. The awareness was found to be more among urban school girls (72.32%) as compared to rural girls (67.42%). The study brings out that 49.24% of the girls in the rural school and 65.17% of the girls in urban school were using sanitary pads. ‘High cost’ was cited as the main reason for not using the sanitary pads.Conclusions: Menstrual hygiene management was found to be sub-optimal among both, urban as well as rural adolescent girls.

Assessment of knowledge and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of Government higher secondary school, station Murhipar, Rajnandgaon (C.G.)

Background: Poor menstrual hygiene practices result into adverse health outcome in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and its consequences. The objective of present study was to assess the Knowledge and Practices regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent school girls.Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was done among adolescent girls of class VII, VIII, IX and X (who attained menarche) in Government higher secondary school, station Murhipar, Rajnandgaon (C.G.) during September 2017 to October 2017 (two months) using a pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical analysis: Collected data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage).Results: A total of 141 adolescent school girls in the age group 12 to 17 years participated in this study. The mean age of menarche of the respondents was 12.9 years (range 11-15 years). Majority of girls (85.8%) were aware about menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. Mother was the first informant in case of 55.4% girls. Majority of girls (90.1%) practiced different restrictions during menstruation. Only 2.1% girls used sanitary pads during menstruation. Regarding hygienic practices, only 29.8% of girls change their cloths/pads three and above times per day and 98.6% girls had daily bath with soap during menstruation. Satisfactory hand washing with soap and water after changing pad during menstruation was present in 96.4%. Cleanliness of external genitalia was satisfactory in case of 80.1% girls.Conclusions: The adolescent girls need to be educated about fact of menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices in order to improve the menstrual hygiene.