6 Summary and Conclusion

6.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
A cross sectional study was undertaken in the senior secondary school located
at Pirangut village in the Mulshi District of Pune under Rural health Training
centre (RHTC) Lavale amongst 740 rural adolescent girls of age 10- 19 years
(class 6th to 12th).
 In this present study 84.05% out of 740 girls had attained menarche;
majority 311(50%) attained their menarche at the age of 13-14 years. Mean
menarche age was 13.4 ± 1.05 years which was higher in comparison with
other developing countries. This study also highlighted that mean age at
menarche had significant association with religion and BMI for age .
However there is no significant association of mean age of menarche with
physical activity /day, type of diet and anemia status.
 Out of 622 girls who attained the menarche, 41.8% girls experienced
menstrual disorders. Nearly 2 out of 3 girls suffered from the commonly
prevalent menstrual disorders like dysmenorrhea (58.1%) together with
many other menstrual disorders. This study indicates that menstrual
disorders are significantly associated with the socio-economic status.
However, prevalence of menstrual disorders was not significant associated
with physical activity and frequency of daily meals.
 Good menstrual hygiene was practiced by only 42.4%. Thus, majority of

girls (57.6%) are at risk of developing serious reproductive health problems.
44.3% did not use sanitary pads .The reasons stated were that cloth was
more comfortable (44.3% ) and was less likely to cause rash (20.7%).
Mother was the common source of information regarding menstruation in
case of (79.26%) girls followed by close family relatives (12.05%).
 In present study as many as 43.2% out of 622 girls who attained menarche
used to remain absent from school during menstruation. The mean number
of absent days was 1.2± 0.7.It is noticed that majority (77.4 %) of girls are
normally absent for just 1day (78.06%). However, a considerable proportion
113
(2:6 or 17.8%) of girls remain absent for more than 2 days. School
absenteeism was found to be statistically significant associated with socio-
economic status, abdominal pain during periods, material used during
menstruation and menstrual disorders. However it was not found significant
associated with physical activity /day, type of family, type of abdominal
pain. Study finding revealed that menstruation related absenteeism is likely
to be combination of various factors. The most common reason for not bring
cloth/pads to school was common toilet entrance area for girls and boys
(25.08%). Regarding misconceptions it was observed that many 55.60%
girls believed that menstruation is a process of removing bad blood from the
body. The commonest restriction 497 (80%) was not to visit any Temple or
religious place during menstruation.
 Overall prevalence of anemia was found to be 87.6% of which 41.2% and

45.9% were suffering from mild and moderate anemia while 3(0.4%) had
severe anemia respectively . The mean hemoglobin was 9.8mg/dl (SD 1.3).
The iron intake is alarming as almost 98.5% of girls had very low iron
intake . The mean iron intake was 6.3 mg/dl ± 2.2 which not even a 25 % of
RDA (18.9-29.9 mg/day) values .The correlation coefficient between “Hb
level and Iron intake (mg) per day” was found to be moderately positive
(0.252).Our finding suggest that the prevalence of anemia was statistically
significantly associated with BMI for age and H/o worm infestation .
Nearly, one third of girls 32.4% are having poor knowledge a few girls 4.1%
are observed to have good knowledge of anemia. Furthermore, no
significant association was found between knowledge of anemia and the
prevalence rate of anemia amongst the school-going rural girl.
 Regarding calories intake it was observed that overall calorie intake in all
age group(10-19) was poor compared to Recommended Daily Allowance
(RDA) . The mean calorie intake was 1428.3 ±261.8 kcal/day. The mean
calorie intake deficient by 30.2 %
 The mean height was 153.6cm (SD 6.23) and mean weight was 43kg (SD
8.48). Out of total 740 girls; overall 69.05% girls were healthy weight (5-85
113
percentiles).Remaining 24.72% were underweight( below 5 percentile),
3.94% were overweight (85-95 percentiles ) while 2.29 % girls were obese
(≥95 percentiles) according to BMI for age by CDC 2000.
The present study concludes that most of the rural adolescent girls
attained their menarche at 13-14 years. The prevalence of menstrual disorders
was 41.8%. Despite of high prevalence of menstruation disorders; the health
seeking behavior amongst these girls was found to be very low. Good menstrual
hygiene was practiced by only 42.4%.School absenteeism due to menstruation
was 43.2%. It was interesting to note that all girls miss their daily activates
during menstruation due to problems related to menstruation or various
misconceptions and restrictions. The high prevalence of anemia was found
87.6%..Furthermore, it was observed that all calorie intake in all age group was
poor compared to Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and according to
CDC (2000) most of the girls were with healthy weight (69%) .
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

 Good menstrual hygiene was practiced by only 42.4%. Thus, majority of

 Overall prevalence of anemia was found to be 87.6% of which 41.2% and

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