A study on the gynecological morbidity among women in reproductive age group in a rural area in Kannur district

Background: Concern for the health of women in poorer nations, is on the rise. Despite being more frequent than ill health during pregnancy, gynecological illnesses are often missed. These issues have a large effect on the lives of women creating discomfort and social fallout. There are only a few studies in Kerala dwelling into this subject. This was a pioneer study in Kannur looking into women’s gynecological issues. Methods: Cheruthazham Panchayat in Kannur district, serves as the field practice area for the department of community medicine at the Government Medical College in Kannur. Here a community-based descriptive research was conducted including 404 women, between June 2017 and July 2018. Relevant data was gathered utilizing a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire and SPSS was used for data analysis. Results: The study population’s mean age was 32.20±10.741 years. 81.7% was the prevalence of gynecological morbidity in the study. Menstruation related problems (68.1%) formed the majority of them. Gynecological morbidity was significantly associated with age at menarche, religion and education. Menstrual disorders and dysmenorrhoea also had significant associations with age at menarche, age and factors like parity, marital status, sexual activity. 30.6% of women sought treatment for their gynecological morbidity. Conclusions: The prevalence of gynecological morbidity was very high among the study population, but the treatment seeking behaviour was very low. Education and guidance on identifying and managing these issues should be provided so as to improve their quality of life.