Prevalence of Menstrual Disorders and its Relationship With Quality of Life in Female High School Students

Background Menstrual disorders in female students in the early years after menarche affect their physical, emotional and social functions. Objective This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of menstrual disorders among female high school students and its relationship with their Quality of Life. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1000 high school girls in Qazvin, Iran during 2017- 2018. Their menstrual disorders and quality of life were evaluated by a demographic checklist and KIDSCREEN questionnaire, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent t-test. Findings The mean age of high school girls was 15.9±0.93 years. The most common disorder was Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) with a prevalence of 60%. Their quality of life had a significant relationship with PMS, menorrhagia, metorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, spotting, hypermenorrhea (P<0.001), polymenorrhea (P=0.005), hypomnorrhea (P=0.002) and amenorrhea (P=0.025). The quality of life of girls with these disorders were poorer compared to the girls with no menstrual disorder. Conclusion Menstrual disorders are highly prevalent among female students, and have a considerable impact on their quality of life. Since this impact has the potential to have longer-term consequences, more efforts are needed to address and treat menstrual disorders in female students.