Prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea in young adult female university students.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea and attitudes and behavior toward dysmenorrhea in the female students of an university toward this problem.


METHODS
A total of 1,266 female university students were anonymously surveyed by doctors.


RESULTS
It was found that mean age of the surveyed students was 21.02+/-2.13 years, mean menarche age was 13.3+/-1.4 years, and menstruation frequency was 32.58+/-19.8 days. Of the students, 45.3% were found to suffer pain in each menstruation, 42.5% in some and 12.2% in none. Of those with primary dysmenorrhea, 66.9% were established to take analgesic drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
Prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea was found higher than that cited in the literature. It was established that although the rate of consultation with health professionals about menstruation and related changes was low, use of agents known to be effective in primary dysmenorrhea treatment was highly common.
Polat
Aytac
A
Department of Family Medicine, Firat University, Medical School, Elazig, Turkey. aytacpolat@hotmail.com
Celik
Husnu
H
Gurates
Bilgin
B
Kaya
Diren
D
Nalbant
Mehmet
M
Kavak
Ebru
E
Hanay
Fethi
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students; D014421:Turkey; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult