Prevalence of Primary Dysmenorrhea and its Relationship with Body Mass Index

Background: Dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, is a major gynaecology condition that occurs each month. Primary dysmenorrhea is episodes of menstrual pain without a cause. Objectives: The study investigates the prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea and whether body mass index affects primary dysmenorrhea. Method: The study is a cross-sectional study conducted in medical schools of the University of Sulaimani of Iraq among 302 young female students aging between 18-25 years old, single or without any past obstetrical history. The study had begun in August 2022 till August 2023. The study was done using a Pretested dysmenorrhea questionnaire to be filled out by participants, based on body mass index (BMI) categorized into four groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese). participants were also categorized into mild, moderate, and severe dysmenorrheic groups based on numeric pain relating scale. Results: the one-year prevalence of primary dysmenorrhea was found to be 80.5%, meant that majority suffered from primary dysmenorrhea However, there was no significant correlation between their body mass index and the severity of the pain (p-value=0.16), number of patients who were underweight and had severe pain were only 15 cases, and those who were classified as obese and complained of severe pain were only 3 in numbers. the mean age in the majority of the volunteers (66.9%) were ranging between 21-24 years. 79.8% of the female participants had normal BMI while only 2.3% had BMI>30. Conclusion: While dysmenorrhea is one of the common gynecological problems and highly prevalent among female medical students that adversely affects daily routine and social life, it is not related to the body mass index of the female; most of them not seeking medical help therefore they need education and counseling to determine the exact cause and method to cope with it.