Study of reproductive health problems in adolescent girls at ESIC PGIMSR, MGM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai: a retrospective study

Abstract

Background: There are almost 200 million adolescents in India. It is estimated that the adolescent group constitutes about one fifth of India’s population and it is estimated that this age group will grow to over 214 million by 2020. The period of adolescence for a girl is a period of physical and psychological preparation for safe motherhood. Several factors contribute to the adolescents' growth. A vast majority of adolescent girls in India are suffering from menstrual problems, reproductive morbidities and nutritional deficiencies such as dysmenorrhoea, pre-menstrual syndrome, irregular menses, heavy menstrual bleeding, amenorrhoea, white discharge per vagina, UTI, anaemia etc. So, the present study was carried out to assess menstrual problems, reproductive health problems and nutritional status of adolescent girls coming to our hospital.Methods: It is a Retrospective study to find about the menstrual problems, reproductive health problems and nutritional status among the adolescent girls of 10-19 years age group who attended O.P.D. for various health problems. Data was collected retrospectively for two years from December 2015.Results: Mean age of adolescent girls were 14.38 Mean age to attain menarche was 12.93. About 386 (96.34%) adolescent girls were literate. 62.04% and 29.58% of adolescent girls belonged to class IV and Class V respectively. 62.56% of them live in poor housing and environmental status. The source of health information for the majority 123 (32.2%) was from mass media. Frequency and percentages of common menstrual problems like dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome, heavy menstrual bleeding, intermenstrual bleeding and primary amenorrhoea were 29.58%, 26.39%, 16.49%, 24.34 and 1.57% respectively. Other Reproductive health problems white discharge per vagina, itching in private parts, pain in lower abdomen, backache, urinary tract infection, lump in abdomen and others (boils, ulcers, warts etc.) 26.7%, 8.11%, 18.06%, 12.3%, 7.32%, 4.97% and 1.57%. Under weight were 21.98%. Anemia was observed in 57.84% of adolescent girls.Conclusions: Present study concluded that most of the adolescent girls suffer from various types of menstrual problems, reproductive morbidities and nutritional problems. The findings of the present study recommend that awareness should be created among the adolescent girls, so that they will be able to take appropriate decision on medical care and treatment.

Centres of Excellence for Adolescent Health and Development: A Case Study from Uttar Pradesh, India

“…The current analysis also found that among SRH problems, white discharge (12.89%), ovarian cyst (5.63%), and bleeding and pain (3.54%) were major issues that were reported. A similar observation was found in a hospital-based retrospective study among adolescents (10-19 years), that white discharge was the most common reproductive health problem among adolescent girls [20]. A significant reduction in counselling for SRH problems (<0.001), menstruation-related problems (<0.001), nutrition (<0.005), and other health problems (<0.001) from the pre-COVID-19 period to the post-COVID-19 period was observed.…”

“…Physiological and anthropometric characteristics such as height, weight, blood pressure, and BMI from 2018-2022 (up to march) are shown in Table 2. Analysis shows that mean height and weight were high among young adults (20)(21)(22)(23)(24) across the observation years. The overall mean height among 20-24 years was (152.58 ± 3.34) and weight (49.79 ± 6.99), respectively.…”

Study of adolescent clinic: holistic approach for women health with dual client methodology

“…In study by Samarth S et al 9.86% had menorrhagia, 11.52% girls had evidence of polycystic ovaries.7Study by Gedam JK had most common menstrual problems being dysmenorrhea and primary amenorrhea in 1.57% of cases similar to our study. 8 In our study anaemia was seen in 40% of girls, 17 girls had hemoglobin % less than 7g%. Serum TSH was normal in 89% of girls.…”

“…Anaemia was observed in 57.84% of girls in study by Gedam JK. 8 Menstrual abnormalities are the most common problems of adolescent girls. 3,[9][10][11][12] Thaker RV et al, study had common menstrual problem being dysmenorrhea in 52.9% of cases similar to our study followed by menstrual irregularities.…”