Menstrual Characteristics among the Nepali Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Background: Menarche is a milestone in a woman’s life as it denotes the start of reproductive capacity.

The experience of first menstruation is often horrifying and traumatic to an adolescent girl. Menstrual health

has a close link with women’s fecundity and other reproductive health risks. Women having appropriate

knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene and safe practices are less vulnerable to RTI and its consequences.

Objectives: The present study aims to find out menstrual characteristics and its association with socio

economic factor among a group of rural Nepali adolescent girls. Materials and Method: Data was collected

from Nepali adolescent girls aged 10-16 years residing in the rural area of Sombaria village of West Sikkim.

Data on age at menarche, menstrual characteristics and menstrual health were collected from 106 participants

using structured schedule. Results: The mean age at menarche of the participants was 12.6±1.17 years.

76.6 percent of the participants have irregular periods. In present study, 85.8 percent of participants have

premenstrual syndrome (PMS) like breast sore, legs cramps, mood swing and back pain. The heavy discharge

and menstrual problems shows 30.1 percent and 69.8 percent respectively. Conclusions: The average age

at menarche shows gradually increase with increasing the age of adolescent girls. Maximum numbers of

participants show higher percentage of irregular period and premenstrual syndrome. The socioeconomic

conditions especially the mother’s education and family income did play an important role in determining

the menstrual characteristics of the participants.