Menstrual Characteristics among the Nepali Adolescent Girls.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]