Dysmenorrhea among female medical students in king abdulaziz university: Prevalence,predictors and outcome

Objective: to determine the prevalence,predictors and outcome of dysmenorrhea among female medical students in king abdulaziz university (kau),jeddah,saudi arabia. methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted among 435 medical students at kau,jeddah selected through stratified random sample method. a pre-constructed,validated,self-administered questionnaire was used to collect personal and socio-demographic information. data about menstrual history,stress,smoking were also collected. the severity of dysmenorrhea was scored by the “visual analogue scale (vas)”. descriptive and analytical statistics were conducted. results: the prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 60.9%. logistic regression showed that heavy period was the first predictor of dysmenorrhea (aor=1.94; 95% ci: 1.29-2.91),followed by stress (aor=1.90; 95% c.i.: 1.19-3.07). the prevalence of severe dysmenorrhea among the sufferers was 38.6%. depressed mood was the commonest (80.8%) symptom accompanying dysmenorrhea. regarding the outcome of dysmenorrhea,67.5% of the sufferes reported emotional instability,while 28.3% reported absenteeism from the university. conclusions: a high prevalence of dysmenorrhea was prevalent among medical students in king abdulaziz university (kau),health promotion,screening programs,and stress management courses are recommended. © 2015,pakistan journal of medical sciences. all rights reserved.