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Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence

The present study analyses the management of primary dysmenorrhea by university students in the south of Spain. In this cross-sectional observational study, 224 women participated, using an ad hoc self-report questionnaire about menstrual pain and self-care and including sociodemographic and gynecol...

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Autores principales: Parra-Fernández, María Laura, Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores, Abreu-Sánchez, Ana, Ramos-Pichardo, Juan Diego, Iglesias-López, María Teresa, Fernández-Martínez, Elia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7432638/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32752254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155570
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author Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Ramos-Pichardo, Juan Diego
Iglesias-López, María Teresa
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
author_facet Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Ramos-Pichardo, Juan Diego
Iglesias-López, María Teresa
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
author_sort Parra-Fernández, María Laura
collection PubMed
description The present study analyses the management of primary dysmenorrhea by university students in the south of Spain. In this cross-sectional observational study, 224 women participated, using an ad hoc self-report questionnaire about menstrual pain and self-care and including sociodemographic and gynecological variables. Some 76.8% of participants consumed analgesics and the majority self-medicated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) without consulting a health professional, with a correlation between pain intensity and the number of pills ingested during menstruation (r = 0.151, p < 0.05). The higher proportion of women who found their analgesia effective were those who took medication after being prescribed by a health care provider (60.8%) compared to those who self-medicated (40%; p < 0.01). Only 43.8% employed non-pharmaceutical methods, most commonly antalgic positions, massages and local heat. These choices were not related to the intensity of menstrual pain nor with the severity of the dysmenorrhea, nor did these most common methods prove to be the most effective. However, a higher percentage of women using non-pharmacological methods was identified in women with family members suffering from dysmenorrhea (73.2%) compared to those without (60%; p = 0.040), which may indicate that the choice of remedies is more related to learning self-care in the family context. This study identifies the need for education on self-care and management of menstrual pain.
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spelling pubmed-74326382020-08-27 Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence Parra-Fernández, María Laura Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores Abreu-Sánchez, Ana Ramos-Pichardo, Juan Diego Iglesias-López, María Teresa Fernández-Martínez, Elia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The present study analyses the management of primary dysmenorrhea by university students in the south of Spain. In this cross-sectional observational study, 224 women participated, using an ad hoc self-report questionnaire about menstrual pain and self-care and including sociodemographic and gynecological variables. Some 76.8% of participants consumed analgesics and the majority self-medicated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) without consulting a health professional, with a correlation between pain intensity and the number of pills ingested during menstruation (r = 0.151, p < 0.05). The higher proportion of women who found their analgesia effective were those who took medication after being prescribed by a health care provider (60.8%) compared to those who self-medicated (40%; p < 0.01). Only 43.8% employed non-pharmaceutical methods, most commonly antalgic positions, massages and local heat. These choices were not related to the intensity of menstrual pain nor with the severity of the dysmenorrhea, nor did these most common methods prove to be the most effective. However, a higher percentage of women using non-pharmacological methods was identified in women with family members suffering from dysmenorrhea (73.2%) compared to those without (60%; p = 0.040), which may indicate that the choice of remedies is more related to learning self-care in the family context. This study identifies the need for education on self-care and management of menstrual pain. MDPI 2020-08-01 2020-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7432638/ /pubmed/32752254 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155570 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Ramos-Pichardo, Juan Diego
Iglesias-López, María Teresa
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title_full Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title_fullStr Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title_full_unstemmed Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title_short Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea among University Students in the South of Spain and Family Influence
title_sort management of primary dysmenorrhea among university students in the south of spain and family influence
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7432638/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32752254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155570
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