Sociodemographic factors and their association with menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls in Urban slums of Dibrugarh town, Assam

INTRODUCTION: For good physical and mental health in adolescent girls, menstrual hygiene practices play an important role. Adolescent girls are incredibly susceptible to various physical and mental issues during this period, and sociodemographic factors play a crucial function in menstrual hygiene practices; thus, it is very critical to preserve good menstrual hygiene practices. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1) to assess the knowledge and menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls and 2) to assess the sociodemographic factors influencing knowledge and menstrual hygiene practices. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in July–September 2019 among 150 adolescent girls. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire was used in the study. Descriptive statistics were applied in data analysis, and multivariate analysis was applied to find out the association. RESULTS: Out of 150 adolescent girls, 78% belong to the Hindu religion and 76.7% are of nuclear family. In total, 28.7% mothers of adolescent girls are illiterate, and most of the adolescent girls (50%) belong to the 14–16-years age group; 38.7% adolescent girls belong to class V socioeconomic status. Multivariate analysis shows that Muslim religion has a significant association with knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene practices (OR: 2.846, P < 0.05) and sanitary disposal of absorbent by adolescent girls (OR: 2.528, P < 0.05). There is a significant association between joint family (type of family) and absorbent used by adolescent girls (OR: 0.253, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It is usually essential to enhance information and practices of good menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls so that they can lead a healthy productive life. Improvement of mothers’ knowledge is also a major area to be focused on.