Prevalence of Dysmenorrhea and its Management among Undergraduate Students of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Dysmenorrhea is a pain felt by women before or during menstruation and is accompanied by some symptoms like headache, dizziness, food cravings, mood swings, and fatigue.  Many ways have been adopted for the management of dysmenorrhea. The study aims to evaluate the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and its management among university students. Methods: A total of two hundred (200) female university students were involved in this study.  A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used where students were sampled randomly a questionnaire was used to collect data and data obtained were analyzed using IBM SPSS  version 26. Results: The study found that a majority of the population experiences dysmenorrhea during menstruation (81.5%) and the majority of respondents experienced menstrual flow within 4-5 days with 37% experiencing severe pain. Symptoms include anxiety, mood swings, tender breasts, food cravings, fatigue, irritating mood, depression, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, and headache. Management of dysmenorrhea varies, with 23.5% using synthetic drugs and 1.5% using local and herbal practices. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of dysmenorrhea among the University students and presenting symptoms like mood swings, fatigue, and diarrhea, with most using local/herbal medication.