Dysmenorrhea: Occurrence in the Life of Female Undergraduates from Health Sector

Dysmenorrhoea is pain or discomfort with menstruation. While it is not an indicative of serious health problem, it causes limitations for significant number of women. The objective of this study was to identify the occurrence of dysmenorrhea and its impact on the life of academics from a Faculty in the city of Campo Mourao - PR. This is a quantitative study carried out between 2009 and 2010 with 44 academics from the health sector. Data were collected by an instrument with open and closed questions and analysis was performed by Statistica 7.1 (StatSoft, 2005), with linear regression test at a significance level 5%, using the chi-square, supported by Excel 2007. The age of the academics ranged from 20 to 41 years. The occurrence of dysmenorrhea was identified in 90% of the women interviewed. Of these, 30.60% said poor academic performance during crises, and 66.07% limitation in daily activities, such as truancy, missing work and in leisure constraints. There was no association between dysmenorrhea and the beginning of menarche, number of days of menstruation and menstrual volume. The most common symptoms were headache, back pain and leg pain, but the majority rated the pain as moderate. Thus, it appears that the occurrence of dysmenorrhea is high and has a negative impact on the lives of these academics