Background: Adolescence is a transitional stage extending from 10-19 years characterized by rapid physical, mental and sexual changes. It is also characterized by hormonal changes. As girls attain puberty at this age, they have various problems associated with menstruation. Menstruation is a natural phenomenon and an important indicator of women's health reflecting their reproductive function. However data on experiences of menstruation and it's impact on the health status, quality of life and social integration among women in developing countries is scanty. 75% of girls have one or more problems associated with menstruation.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of menstrual problems among school going students in the age group of 12-17 years. 510 adolescent girls of randomly selected government schools in Thiruvananthapuram district were studied by a pretested semi structured questionnaire.Results: Mean age of menarche is 12.2. Out of 510 students 352 have normal menstrual cycles (50.1%). 10% have scanty menstruation, 31% have menorrhagia. Majority of girls (84.8%) has one or other menstrual problems. 33% of girls suffer from dysmenorrhea. Among 510 participants 31.6% reported that menstrual problems affects their daily life activities. 14.7% could not attend the class and 12.8% attend the class without taking medication but not participating in any outdoor activities.Conclusions: Menstrual problems are present in majority of girls in the study group which has some effect on the academic performance and other extracurricular activities in school.

Background: Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. As adolescents are less vulnerable to diseases than the children, health problems specific to this group is given less importance. Their emotional problems are little noticed by the parents.Methods:A cross sectional study was conducted in a rural government higher secondary school, Kilimanoor during November 2013. 10th and 11th class students (110 girls and 107 boys) were interviewed with the help of a pretested questionnaire.Results: A total of 217 students in the age group of 15-17 years were studied. Obesity was found in 2.8% of students. 45.6% falls under normal category and the rest 51.6% were in the underweight category. Hypertension was observed only in males i.e. 4.2%. 24.4% were in the pre hypertensive group. Systolic BP is correlated with BMI (r = 0.270, p-value <0.001). The prevalence of hypertension and pre hypertension in males are 8.4% and 30.8% respectively, whereas none of the females are hypertensive and 18.2% are in pre hypertensive group. Among the 106 girls, the prevalence of premenstrual symptoms is 83%. Among the 107 boys it was found that 13.0% students smoked cigarettes and 15.8% had consumed alcohol at this age. 11.2% students reported that they have both these habits.Conclusions:This study brought out the problems of malnutrition both under nutrition and over nutrition so also the prevalence of hypertension and pre hypertension among adolescents which are going to be serious health problems in future.