Abstract
Background: Irregular menstruation is a factor that increases the rate of emotional and psychological stresses. This study was conducted to determine the patterns of menstrual cycles and the prevalence of menstrual disorders; menstrual irregularity and prolonged menstrual bleeding among adolescent and adult females.
Methods: This was a cross sectional community-based study, conducted in the Eastern area of Saudi Arabia on 639 females aged 10-52 years, during the period from 1 Abril to 31 June 2018. Data was analyzed using SPSS program, version 20.0. A 5% level was chosen as a level of significance in all statistical tests used.
Results: The mean age of study participants was calculated to be 29.3 +/- 8.1 years, the mean length of the menstrual cycle was(18.73 +/- 9.9 days), and the mean Length of period is (6.22 +/- 1.63 days). Prevalence of menstrual cycle irregularities among the studied sample was (29.7%). Subjects complained of dysmenorrhea were 77.9%, of them 29.1% had irregular cycles with no statistical difference. No statistical difference between age of menarche and menstrual cycle regularity (P>0.05), higher education is associated with more cycle regularity (P<0.05). Menorrhagia was found in 33% of our study subjects, more abnormal texture of menstrual blood found in subjects with regular cycles (P=0.037). 54.9% were suffering continuous stress with statistically significant association between suffering from continuous stress and menstrual irregularity (P-value=0.007) with people suffering continuous stress more prone to menstrual irregularity. No statistically significant association between drinking tea or coffee repeatedly and menstrual regularity (P>0.05).
Conclusion: in this study, the prevalence of menstrual cycle irregularities was 29.7%. Higher education is associated with more cycle regularity (P<0.05). Statistically significant association between suffering from continuous stress and menstrual irregularity. No statistically significant association between drinking tea or coffee repeatedly and menstrual regularity