PREVALENCE AND IMPACT OF DYSMENORRHEA ON HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Sahar Mahmoud Alia, Mohammed Shamssain and Moayad Shahwan*

ABSTRACT

Background: little attention is paid to understanding of women's menstrual complaints. Menstrual dysfunction is not included in the Global Burden of Disease estimates and, even as reproductive health programs expand their focus to address gynecologic morbidity, the utility of evaluating and treating menstrual problems is not generally considered. Objective: To find out the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and its impact on the health related quality of life (HRQL) in female university students using SF-12 questionnaire. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out over a period of one month from 15th February till 15th March 2014. A total of 569 subjects were selected randomly from the pharmacy college and the college of dentistry. SF-12 health survey questionnaire was used in this study. Results: Approximately 79% described their dysmenorrhea as severe and moderate; the distribution of the severity of dysmenorrhea cases was as follows: mild 21%, moderate 43% and severe 36%. Family history of dysmenorrhea seems to be an important characteristic for women with dysmenorrhea. Conclusion: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea among female students was relatively high throughout this study, reaching almost 79% and HRQL showed a decrease in the presence of dysmenorrhea and with the increase in the severity of dysmenorrhea.

Keywords: Dysmenorrhea, menstrual, university students.