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Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students

Menstrual problems are usually taboo; and often, some, such as dysmenorrhea, are presumed normal. This study seeks to compare the menstrual characteristics and symptoms of female university students reporting self-perceived normality concerning their cycles and menstruation with those who perceive t...

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Autores principales: Abreu-Sánchez, Ana, Parra-Fernández, María Laura, Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores, Fernández-Martínez, Elia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7504309/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32899383
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176432
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author Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
author_facet Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
author_sort Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
collection PubMed
description Menstrual problems are usually taboo; and often, some, such as dysmenorrhea, are presumed normal. This study seeks to compare the menstrual characteristics and symptoms of female university students reporting self-perceived normality concerning their cycles and menstruation with those who perceive their menstruation as being abnormal. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 270 nursing students using a self-report questionnaire that included sociodemographic and gynecological issues, together with Visual Analog Scale, the Andersch and Milsom Scale, and the Spanish version of the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EuroQol-5D) to measure self-perceived health status. A bivariate analysis was performed using the chi-square test, linear trend chi-square, and Student’s t-test, and a multivariate analysis of stepwise binary logistic regression was performed to predict the perception of cycle abnormality. In total, 77.4% of participants displayed normality; however, in self-reporting of menstrual characteristics, 67.4% identified alterations. Young women suffering from menstrual dizziness were 1.997 (CI95% = 1.010–3.950; p = 0.047) more likely to manifest abnormal menstruation, 4.518 (CI95% = 1.239–16.477; p = 0.022) more likely if they suffered from Grade 3 menstrual pain, and 2.851 (CI95% = 1.399–5.809; p = 0.004) more likely if they perceived that menstruation interfered with their daily lives. Many menstrual changes and symptoms are still considered normal, making it difficult to identify and address these issues. Therefore, it is necessary to develop health policies and strategies to improve menstrual health literacy for increased knowledge and earlier diagnosis.
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spelling pubmed-75043092020-09-24 Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students Abreu-Sánchez, Ana Parra-Fernández, María Laura Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores Fernández-Martínez, Elia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Menstrual problems are usually taboo; and often, some, such as dysmenorrhea, are presumed normal. This study seeks to compare the menstrual characteristics and symptoms of female university students reporting self-perceived normality concerning their cycles and menstruation with those who perceive their menstruation as being abnormal. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 270 nursing students using a self-report questionnaire that included sociodemographic and gynecological issues, together with Visual Analog Scale, the Andersch and Milsom Scale, and the Spanish version of the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EuroQol-5D) to measure self-perceived health status. A bivariate analysis was performed using the chi-square test, linear trend chi-square, and Student’s t-test, and a multivariate analysis of stepwise binary logistic regression was performed to predict the perception of cycle abnormality. In total, 77.4% of participants displayed normality; however, in self-reporting of menstrual characteristics, 67.4% identified alterations. Young women suffering from menstrual dizziness were 1.997 (CI95% = 1.010–3.950; p = 0.047) more likely to manifest abnormal menstruation, 4.518 (CI95% = 1.239–16.477; p = 0.022) more likely if they suffered from Grade 3 menstrual pain, and 2.851 (CI95% = 1.399–5.809; p = 0.004) more likely if they perceived that menstruation interfered with their daily lives. Many menstrual changes and symptoms are still considered normal, making it difficult to identify and address these issues. Therefore, it is necessary to develop health policies and strategies to improve menstrual health literacy for increased knowledge and earlier diagnosis. MDPI 2020-09-03 2020-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7504309/ /pubmed/32899383 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176432 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
Abreu-Sánchez, Ana
Parra-Fernández, María Laura
Onieva-Zafra, María Dolores
Fernández-Martínez, Elia
Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title_full Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title_fullStr Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title_full_unstemmed Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title_short Perception of Menstrual Normality and Abnormality in Spanish Female Nursing Students
title_sort perception of menstrual normality and abnormality in spanish female nursing students
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7504309/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32899383
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176432
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