Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Menstrual Hygiene Among Adolescent Girls and Young Adult Women in Ahmedabad City - A Community Based Cross Sectional Study

Background: The knowledge established about the physiology of menstruation and unhygienic practices at adolescent age of girls predispose them to life threatening reproductive tract infections, infertility and various menstruation related morbidity conditions. And the same knowledge and practice is usually followed by them throughout life and also passed on to the next generations. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding menstrual cycle, its management, and menstrual hygiene. Method: A cross-sectional study was done amongst 352 adolescent girls and young adult women in 10-24year age group from 5 field practice area of community medicine department of B.J medical college by simple random sampling technique. Result: Regarding knowledge about menstruation, majority of study participant 333(94.60%) and 334 (99.88%) don’t know source of menstrual bleeding and cause of menstrual bleeding respectively. More than half study group 333(94.60%) don’t know consequences of bad hygienic practice during menstruation. From total 352 study participant, 266 (75.56%) used sanitary pad and 86 (24.44%) used cloth as an absorbent during menstruation. Conclusion: The study result show that there is poor knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Participant’s attitude toward menstruation was relatively positive and consequently poor practice was expected. Key words: Menstrual hygiene practices, RTI (Reproductive tract infections)