Vol. 1, Issue 2, Part A (2019)

Background: Menstruation is an important part of female reproductive cycle. Menstrual cycle disorders are caused by several factors like hormonal, genetic, psychological, nutritional and organic disorders. The nutritional status is measured by using body mass index. Method: It is a cross sectional study conducted on 205 female medical students in Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada in January 2020. Data was collected through predesigned questionnaires and measurement of body weight and height and the data was analyzed. Results: out of 205 medical students in the study, regular duration of menstrual cycle is seen in 177(86.34%). polymenorrhea is present in 2(0.97%). Oligomenorrhea is present in 26(12.69%) students. 33 students are overweight and 22 are underweight, normal BMI is present in 150 students. Of these 205 students, only 1 had early menarche at the age of 7 years. Mean age at menarche in the study is 12-13 years. More than 8 days of menstrual flow is seen in 29 students. Heavy flow of menstruation in initial 3 days of cycle is in 1.47% whereas 1.95% had scanty flow. Dysmenorrhea is present in 35% students. Conclusion: In the present study, majority of the subjects are with normal menstruation and most prevalent menstrual abnormality is oligmenorrhea being 12.69%. Furthermore it was concluded from the study that there is no statistical significance between BMI and menstrual irregularities among medical students. Factors other than BMI like stress in the medical profession may be responsible for menstrual irregularities and more studies are necessary in this regard.