A prospective study of association of body mass index with menstural disturbances in a tertiary care setting

Abstract

Aims: To establish the association between body mass index and menstrual disturbances. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology in Patna medical college and hospital ,Patna, Bihar India for a period of one year. Total 200 patients were included in the study. Patients with age ranging from 20-40yrs, coming to the departmental OPD with presenting history of menstrual irregularities were included. Patients with normal cycles and  pregnancy were excluded. Data regarding age, marital status, parity, symptoms, menstrual history, obstetric history, examination, co-morbidities, investigation findings, associated pathology and treatment modality were noted.  Results: The mean age of the study participants was 32.12 (±8.12) years and their mean age at menarche was 12.47 (±1.82) years. Majority of the study participants were belonging to class IV (lower middle class 30%) and class III (middle class 25%) socio-economic status. Most of the females were married (85%), Majority of the females were housewives (60%) followed by working women (35). Those belonging to nuclear family (55%). More than 60% of the females who participated in the study were educated till high school. Around 50 (25%) women have BMI within the normal range, 20 (10%) are underweight, 120 (60%) women falls in overweight category and 10 (5%) of the study participants were obese as per the WHO standards. Among the obese women, more than 76.92% have menstrual irregularities suggesting a strong relationship between the two when compared to women with normal BMI. Conclusion: BMI plays a very important role in menstrual cycle regulation. Life style modifications and nutritional counselling could decrease the incidence of menstrual irregularities. Healthy eating habits and maintaining optimal BMI improves menstrual health.

 Keywords: Body mass index, Menstrual cycle, Menorrhagia, Obesity.