Menstrual Cycle Pattern among Adolescent School Girls in Chhattisgarh

Background: The menstrual cycle is a very important indicator of women’s reproductive health and of their endocrine function. Menstruation, and the menstrual cycle are characterized by variability in volume, pattern and regularity. The purpose of this study was to determine the age of menarche, source of information regarding menstrual cycle, patterns, and problems faced by the adolescent rural and urban school girls, of Chhattisgarh, during menstruation. Method: The present study was cross-sectional descriptive study carried out on 750 school going adolescent girls from rural and urban areas of Chhattisgarh. For collection of data Self-structured questionnaire based on issues related to menstruation cycle was used. Results: Average age of menarche for overall sample taken, of adolescent girls of Chhattisgarh is 14.33 years. Mean age of menarche for urban and rural adolescent girls. 14.45 years and 13.89 years respectively. The adolescent girls received information about menstrual cycle from various sources viz mother (34.6%), friends (19.4%) and sisters (16.8%). It was noticed that most of the adolescent girls (61.25%) experienced menstrual problems (59% urban girls and 64.5% rural girls reported menstrual problems). 45.6% of urban girls and 35.4% rural girls experienced abdominal pain as one of the major problem during menstrual cycle. 16% & 20.3% urban and rural girls reported to suffer from headache during menstrual cycle respectively. During menstrual cycle, fatigue was observed in 17.8% urban girls and 22.4% rural girls. 20.6% and 21.6% urban and rural girls reported food craving respectively. Higher percentage of rural girls experienced psychological symptoms like depression, anxiety, fatigue, food cravings and headaches, as compared to urban girls. Conclusion : Higher percentage of rural adolescent girls of Chhattisgarh experience problem during menstruation cycle as compared to the urban girls, the percentage of rural girls reporting psychological symptoms during cycle, is higher as compared to urban girls. Intervention program for awareness regarding Menstrual cycle and associated issues for adolescent girls and their parents should be planned so that the problems of the girls can be minimized.