Menstrual Distress and Its Impact on Quality of Life of Adolescents and Middle-Aged Women

Sarita Y, Richa G and Minakshi S
 

Department of Zoology, Maharshi Dayanand University, India

^*Correspondance to: Minakshi Sharma 

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Abstract:

Background: Menstruation is defined as the periodic flow of blood that occurs due to the shedding of endometrium lining. It is a natural phenomenon but it plays a crucial role in the Quality of Life (QOL) of women and comprehends to impact women’s health, as it leads to a lot of physical, psychological, and emotional changes during the luteal and follicular phase which affect the daily activities of women of reproductive age. All the physical and emotional stress related to menstruation that befalls just before, during, or just after the bleeding days of the menstrual cycle which is caused by the fluctuations of female reproductive hormones is called menstrual distress. Objective: The ambition of this research was to evaluate the influence of menstrual distress on the QOL of women and its impact on overall health. The study also includes the evaluation of factors that impact menstrual distress and the levels of menstrual distress and overall QOL in different age groups. Study Design: The sample study included 210 participants. Two questionnaires were used to collect data: Self-administered Menstrual Health Survey (MHS) questionnaire and WHOQOLBREF questionnaire. Data is analyzed in SPSS 22 software using statistical methods like Pearson correlation and t-independent sample test. To analyze the levels of menstrual distress and overall QOL in different age groups, sample was divided into two groups; the 15 to 30 age group and the 31 to 50 age group. Results: Contemplating the menstrual history variables and MDS, the correlation coefficient was found to be positive and the p-value was less than the significance level in case of duration of bleeding days (p<0.05) and the amount of menstrual flow (p<0.01). Interpreting the lifestyle variables and MDS, it was observed that the correlation coefficient was negative and the p-value was less than the significance level in case of given birth to a baby (p<0.05). In case of MDS and quality of life, it was also observed that the correlation coefficient was negative and the p-value was less than the significance level in both instances quality of life during periods (p<0.01) and overall health (p<0.05). The level of menstrual distress and overall QOL in two different groups was evaluated through t-independent sample test, it was noticed that p-value was less than the significance level in case of both menstrual distress score (p<0.05) and WHOQOL-BREF score (p<0.01). Conclusion: From the correlation analysis, it is concluded that menstrual distress has a negative impact on the QOL of women during periods and on overall health. It was also observed that the longer the duration of bleeding days and heavy the amount of menstrual flow, the more is the menstrual distress. Moreover, it is evident that post-parturition the level of menstrual distress decreases. Also, the levels of menstrual distress and QOL in the two groups are significantly different.

Keywords:

Menstrual Distress; Quality of life; Menstrual Health; Duration of bleeding days; Amount of menstrual flow; Post-parturition

Cite the Article:

Sarita Y, Richa G, Minakshi S. Menstrual Distress and Its Impact on Quality of Life of Adolescents and Middle-Aged Women. Clin Case Rep Int. 2024; 8: 1644.