Abstract:

Background information: Dysmenorrhea has been the most common gynecological problem worldwide experienced by women which cause pain in the lower abdomen extending to the lower back and legs. There is high prevalence of dysmenorrhea globally with variations in populations and ethnic groups. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea globally varies from 20% to 90%. Dysmenorrhea affects the physical, psychological, and social status of female.The study was designed to determine the effect of dysmenorrhea on quality of life among undergraduate female students at CUHAS Mwanza Tanzania.

Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at CUHAS-BUGANDO from June to August. The study involved female medical students at CUHAS with a total of 290 participants. Data were collected using self-administered, structured questionnaires and analyzed using STATA version 15

Results: A total of 290 female undergraduate students were enrolled in this study from Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences(CUHAS-BUGANDO), among them 262 were having dysmenorrhea and most of students seem to use pharmacological as the method of reducing menstruation pain 218 (75.17%) and the factor associated with dysmenorrhea, significant differences were observed in term of limitation of activities (P= 0.001), social activities (P=0.001), physical activities (P=0.001)

Conclusion: Dysmenorrhea is found to be highly prevalent among female undergraduate student’s findings suggest study year, menstrual bleeding, menstrual cycle, methods used when having dysmenorrhea, does dysmenorrhea affect classes, attendance and exam grades are well associated with dysmenorrhea indicating the magnitude of problem and thus need an appropriate intervention through a change in lifestyle.