title: Prevalence of Menstrual Problems among Adolescent School Girls in Rural Tamil Nadu.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Adolescent girls face a gamut of problems of which the menstrual problems are the most common. Because menstrual problems are subtle, the problems often are unreported. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  School-based study conducted in a rural school of the Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were adolescent girls who attained menarche at least 1 year before the data collection period were selected using a simple random sampling method. A total of 350 participants were included in the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  No interventions were done. A structured, pretested questionnaire was used to collect data.
  
  
  METHODS
  The main outcome measured in this study was the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the study participants was 14.74 years. The mean age at menarche was 12.4 years. In this study, 87.7% of the girls suffered from a menstrual problem. Overall, dysmenorrhea was prevalent in 72.6%, and menorrhagia and irregular menstrual cycles were present among 45.7% and 31.7% of the participants, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Menstrual problems form an important domain of adolescent health and because these problems go unreported, it is necessary that adequate attention and care is provided. The consequences of the neglect of menstrual problems results in impaired reproductive and sexual health in older women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: kundavaivallavarayan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ravi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Pankaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Gopal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palani
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Shanthi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Edward
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: B W C
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Sathiyasekaran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008572:Menarche; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D008599:Menstruation Disturbances / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Adolescents; Dysmenorrhea; Irregular menstrual cycles; Menorrhagia; Menstrual problems