Association of obesity and anemia with menstrual irregularities in young girls between the ages of 16 to 25 years

Objective: To determine the association of obesity and anemia with menstrual irregularities and to identify common menstrual irregularities among girls between the age of 16 to 25 years. Methodology: The study was a cross sectional survey and included 330 girls between the age of 16 to 25 years from Riphah International University, Railway General Hospital and Margalla Institute of Health Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Duration of study was 6 months from February 2015 to July 2015. Obesity level was measured by using BMI and physical examination was done to assess anemia. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Result: Out of 330 girls, 272 (82.4%) had menstrual irregularity. Most common irregularity was dysmenorrhea seen n 105(31.8%) girls. 225(68.2 %) girls had BMI between 18.5 to 25, which is a normal value and only 3(1.5%) were between 30 to 35 on a BMI scale, which is considered as an obese. Anemia was present in 60.6% of girls who were having menstrual disorder shown by the pale color of conjunctiva on physical examination. Conclusion: Most common menstrual disorder in young girls was dysmenorrhea. There was strong association of anemia with menstrual irregularities but it had less association with obesity. We have also found some association of menstrual irregularities in underweight girls which should be further investigated.