The relation between primary dysmenorrhea in adolescents and body mass index

Ainur Donayeva; Ainur Amanzholkyzy; Roza Nurgaliyeva; Gulnara Gubasheva; Ibrahim A Abdelazim; Ihab I Samaha

doi:10.5114/pm.2023.131314

The relation between primary dysmenorrhea in adolescents and body mass index

Prz Menopauzalny. 2023 Sep;22(3):126-129. doi: 10.5114/pm.2023.131314. Epub 2023 Sep 20.

Authors

Ainur Donayeva¹, Ainur Amanzholkyzy¹, Roza Nurgaliyeva¹, Gulnara Gubasheva², Ibrahim A Abdelazim³, Ihab I Samaha⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Normal Physiology, West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University, Aktobe, Kazakhstan.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology №2, West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University, Aktobe, Kazakhstan.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Introduction: The aim was to assess the relation between primary dysmenorrhea in adolescents and body mass index (BMI).

Material and methods: Two-hundred and ten adolescents were recruited for this cross-sectional research. After detailed evaluation, pelvic sonography was performed for the studied adolescents to rule out any pelvic abnormalities and/or lesion(s). The severity of the studied adolescents' dysmenorrhea was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS). The studied adolescents were divided into underweight, normal-weight, overweight, and obese adolescent groups based on their BMI (kg/m²). Collected data were analyzed using the ANOVA test, and correlation analysis (Pearson's correlation) to assess the relation between primary dysmenorrhea in adolescents and BMI.

Results: The visual analogue scale of dysmenorrhea was statistically higher in the underweight adolescent group (8.7 ±0.8) compared to normal-weight (6.5 ±0.5) (p = 0.000001), and overweight (6.3 ±0.6) (p = 0.000001) adolescent groups. The visual analogue scale of dysmenorrhea was also statistically higher in the obese adolescent group (9.4 ±0.6) compared to underweight (8.7 ±0.8) (p = 0.000001), normal-weight (6.5 ±0.5) (p = 0.000001), and overweight (6.3 ±0.6) (p = 0.000001) adolescent groups.

Conclusions: The visual analogue scale of dysmenorrhea was statistically higher in the underweight adolescent group compared to normal-weight, and overweight adolescent groups, and there was a strong negative relation between the VAS and BMI in the underweight adolescent group. In addition, the VAS of dysmenorrhea was statistically higher when the obese adolescent group was compared with the overweight, normal-weight and underweight adolescent groups, and there was a moderate positive relation between the VAS and BMI in the obese adolescent group.

Keywords: BMI; adolescents; body mass index; primary dysmenorrhea.