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Abstract
Background: It has been observed that menstrual characteristics are generally influenced by lifestyle, socio-cultural and biological factors.
Aim: The present study examines: (a) variation in menstrual characteristics between rural and urban adolescents; and (b) whether these characteristics can be predicted from various socio-economic variables related to place of residence.
Subjects and methods: The sample of the present study constituted 715 adolescent girls from rural (325) and urban (390) areas of West Bengal, a State of India. These girls belong to a Bengali-speaking Hindu ethnic group. Data on socio-economic variables and menstrual characteristics were collected using pretested questionnaires.
Results: Rural and urban adolescents differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) with respect to age at menarche, skipped and irregular cycles, premenstrual syndrome, duration of menstrual discharge, mean number of days of peak discharge and problems related to menstrual discharge. Place of residence was found to be a significant predictor of age at menarche (β = 0.27, p < 0.01). Significant association was observed between some of the socio-economic variables and various menstrual characteristics among the study participants.
Conclusions: Menstrual characteristics differ significantly between rural and urban adolescents. Moreover, various socio-economic variables pertaining to place of residence significantly affect the menstrual characteristics among adolescents.
Acknowledgements
The authors are deeply indebted to the study participants for their kind cooperation. We sincerely thank Mr Marcus Glassman of Purdue University for improving the manuscript.
Declaration of interest: The authors would like to thank the University Grants Commission of India for providing us the financial support (Under DSA Phase III programme) to conduct the study. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.