Prevalence of Dysmenorrhea among Adolescent Girls: A Cross-sectional Study from Urban Central India

Adolescence is a transitional journey from childhood to adult life along with pubertal development and sexual maturation. One of the major physiological changes that take place in adolescent girls is the onset of menarche.To add to their worry, problems of irregular menstruation, excessive bleeding and dysmenorrhea are there. The true incidence and prevalence of dysmenorrhea are not clearly established in India.Our study aimed to assess the prevalence of dysmenorrhea among urban adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to September 2013 among all girls of selected government and non government higher secondary schools of Raipur city using a pre designed, pre tested interview schedule. Data were entered in computer and analyzed using SPSSvs14. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the result.A total of 577 female students were enrolled. Prevalence of dysmenorrhea in our study was 71.4 %.Dysmenorrhea occurred in students with both regular and irregular cycles. The findings of this study thus indicate the enormity of the problem and the need for appropriate intervention among these groups