the relationship between age at menarche and primary dysmenorrhea in female students of shiraz schools

Background: dysmenorrhea is one of the most common gynecological problems. this study aimed to determine the relationship between age at menarche and painful menstruation among female students of shiraz schools. methods: this cross sectional study was conducted on 2000 female students. for data collection, a researcher-made questionnaire was applied. data were analyzed using statistical tests in spss version 21. results: about 69.3% of the participants had experienced at least 1 episode of menstrual bleeding. among postmenarcheal subjects, 77.7% had dysmenorrhea, while 22.3% did not. there was no significant relationship between age at menarche and dysmenorrhea (p = 0.15). however, there was a significant relationship between the onset of dysmenorrhea and postmenarche years (p < 0.001). conclusions: although two-thirds of students suffered from primary dysmenorrhea, no significant relationship was found with age at menarche. therefore, the high prevalence of dysmenorrhea among students calls for proper counseling and management. keywords: primary dysmenorrhea, menarche, students, girl