---
title: How common are menstrual problems and PMS among teenage girls in rural areas?
description: More than 6 in 10 girls had PMS symptoms, with abdominal pain, cramping and back pain being most common. Dysmenorrhoea was the most common menstrual problem o
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/menstrual-problems-and-hygiene-among-rural-adolescent-girls-of-tamil-nadu-a-2016/
---

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- How common are menstrual problems and PMS among teenage girls in rural areas?

Survey study, 2016

# How common are menstrual problems and PMS among teenage girls in rural areas?

More than 6 in 10 girls had PMS symptoms, with abdominal pain, cramping and back pain being most common. Dysmenorrhoea was the most common menstrual problem overall.

 Early or limited evidence

500 teenage girls aged 14-19 in rural Tamil Nadu, India

## What they did

500 teenage girls aged 14-19 in rural Tamil Nadu, India were interviewed using a questionnaire about their menstruation, PMS, menstrual problems and hygiene practices.

## What they found

62.2% of girls had PMS symptoms. Among individual symptoms: abdominal pain (94.6%), cramps (82.2%), back pain (77.8%). Among menstrual problems: dysmenorrhoea (65%), oligomenorrhoea (16%), menorhagia (11%). Only 41.6% regularly used sanitary pads. 51.4% used an average of 2 pads or cloths per day during menstruation. 90% did not clean their genitals with soap and water. Mean age of first period: 12.67 years.

## What it means for you

PMS and menstrual problems are very common in teenage girls and hygiene practices need improvement. The main limitation is this study only looked at one rural region in India, so results may not apply elsewhere.

500

teenage girls studied

62.2%

with PMS symptoms

12.67

mean age of first period in years

## About the study

Original title “Menstrual problems and hygiene among rural adolescent girls of Tamil Nadu-A cross sectional study” Authors S. Priya, AS Alliratnam, R Shankar Journal Indian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Year 2016 Study design Survey study Participants 500 What was tested None—observational survey Read the paper [doi.org/10.5958/2394-2754.2016.00035.7](https://doi.org/10.5958/2394-2754.2016.00035.7)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Dysmenorrhea and period pain](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-dysmenorrhea/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)[Adolescents and young people](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-adolescents/)

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