High School Girls and Smartphone Applications to Track Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Objective: Tracking of periods is recommended to adolescent girls because of their irregular menstrual cycle and longer cycle length compared to adult women. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of use of apps to track menstrual cycle among high school girls from Belgrade, Serbia, as well as to define factors associated with their use. Methods: A study was carried out in December 2016 and January 2017. The study included 394 high school girls from Belgrade, Serbia, who used smartphones. The students were asked to fill in an anonymous questionnaire about socio-demographic characteristics, use of online platforms and smartphone apps as well as online health (e-health) literacy scale (eHEALS). Results: The prevalence of tracking menstrual cycle via smartphone apps was 29.7%. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that studying humanities-languages school program, using Wikipedia, websites run by physicians, health forums, but not YouTube were associated with use of menstrual cycle tracking apps. Girls who used fitness apps were more likely to use apps to track menstrual cycle. Conclusion: Approximately one third of girls in Belgrade highs schools who have smartphones used menstrual cycle tracking apps. Use of different digital media might influence the decision to track menstrual cycle via smartphone apps.

Tracking Menstrual Cycle Using Smartphone Apps

“…A technically versatile app should be protected with password, not need Internet connection, have no commercials or endorsements, provide medical and technical support within the app and include scientific literature (4). From the results obtained by Gazibara et al, it is noticed that in Serbia, although the vast majority of adolescent girls use smartphones, only 29.7% of female high school students use apps to track menstrual cycle (1,5).…”

“…In the last issue of Central European Journal of Pediatrics, Gazibara et al explored the usage and factors associated with smartphone apps to track menstrual cycle (1). This study found that approximately one third of high school girls reported using menstrual cycle tracking apps.…”

“…The girls who used smartphone apps to track menstrual cycle were more likely to use other Internet platforms such as Wikipedia, health forums, websites run by physicians as well as smartphone apps for fitness. Moreover, high school girls who used menstrual cycle tracking apps were mostly studying humanities-languages program and came from families in which parents had higher education and income levels (1).…”