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SELECTED ASPECTS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN GIRLS IN OLOMOUC REGION

Tomanova, J.

Abstract

The main objective of the research study was to investigate the onset of menarche and the use of hormonal contraception in girls in the Olomouc Region, to compare the results of the research with other studies, and to confirm or disprove the secular trend in girls in the area of menarche. Partial objectives of the study are as follows: To find out whether girls in various age categories menstruate or not, to find out the age of menarche, to find out whether the cycle is regular or not, to find out after how many days the cycle repeats and how long menstrual bleeding lasts, and to find out whether girls use hormonal contraception. Data collection was performed by means of an interview and anonymous questionnaire. Description of respondents: Girls aged 9.00 – 18.99 years. The respondents were from urban as well as rural areas of the Moravian-Silesian Region. The research study was performed within the following project: The epidemic of obesity – a common problem: knowledge transfer, education, prevention under Reg. No. PL.3.22/2.3.00/11.02576. Results of the research survey: The most numerous age category out of the total number of 1,232 of questioned girls was represented by girls aged 12 years (14.20\%). Girls in this age category reported menstruation in 6.57\% of cases; a total of 7.63\% of girls reported they did not menstruate. None of the questioned girls reported menstruation at the age of 9 years. In the age category of 18 years, of the total number of 4.30\% of girls, 2.11\% of girls reported they did not bleed. Of the total number of 510 girls (more results of the questioned girls were unsuitable for evaluation) most girls (26.47\%) reported the age of menarche of 14.59 years. In the questioned girls, the menstruation cycle repeated between 25.19 and 40.55 days; menstrual bleeding lasted between 4.71 and 5.75 days. In general, girls start to use hormonal contraception at the age of 14 years. At the age of 9-13 years, none of the girls reported the use of hormonal contraception. At the age of 18 years, hormonal contraception was used by a total of 1.38\% of girls. None of the girls at the age of 18 reported not using contraception. 92\% of girls did not respond to the question whether they used contraception. In total for all age categories, of the total number of 1232 questioned girls, hormonal contraception was used by 3.08\% of girls; 23.53\% of respondents did not use contraception and 73.38\% did not answer. Conclusion: The average age of the onset of menarche in girls in the Czech Republic is 13 years, usually 2.3 + 1 years after the start of breast development and approximately 1 year after the maximum growth speed is achieved. In our study, most girls (26.47\%) reported the age of menarche of 14.59 years. In the questioned girls, the menstruation cycle repeated between 25.19 and 40.55 days; menstrual bleeding lasted between 4.71 and 5.75 days. In our study it was observed that girls start to use hormonal contraception at the age of 14 years. With increasing age the number of users of hormonal contraception increases.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2015/B11/S2.104

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