Prevalence of Menstrual Disorders and Menstrual Hygiene among School Going Adolescent Girls in Central Kerala

The present study was carried out in selected schools of Pathanamthitta district, central Kerala to assess the prevalence of menstrual disorders and status of menstrual hygiene among school going adolescent girls. A total of 821 school going adolescent girls (aged 10-19 years) from both urban and rural areas were screened, out of which 670 had onset of menstruation. The data was collected from all 670 eligible participants using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included information on age of attaining menstruation (menarche), menstrual hygiene and socio demographic variables. The mean age of onset of menarche was 12.28 (SD±1.03) years. Irregular menstrual disorder was observed in 34% (n = 228) of the studied subjects. Problems associated with menstruation observed among the subjects were polymenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, hypomenorrhea and menorrhagia. Among all the studied subjects, 99.7% (668) were using sanitary pads. As far disposal of pads was concerned, 77.25% (n = 516) disposed their pads by burning, 17.06% (n = 114) flush the used pads in toilets and 1.19% (n=8) respondents were throwing the pads outside in open and others were 4.49% (n = 30).