Abstract:

Background: Secondary amenorrhea occurs when you have at least one menstrual period and you stop menstruating for three months or longer. It is best to address the underlying causes of amenorrhea before treatment to avoid complications. The study will determine the prevalence of secondary amenorrhea in Bugando Medical Centre and assess its management according to the underlying conditions.

Methods: It was a retrospective cross-sectional conducted at Bugando Medical Centre. The study population was patients who attended gynaecological clinic at BMC from February 2015 to September 2017. Systematic random sampling was used to obtain patient files.

Results: Majority (53.9%) of patients had their ages between 26-35 years of age. Out of 371 patients, 78 had secondary amenorrhea (21%). Among the patients prescribed with drugs, 83.3% were given medication according to the underlying condition.

Discussion: The prevalence observed is almost same of studies done in India and Lebanon which were 25% and 15% respectively. This prevalence is higher than in the Mexican population with the prevalence of 4.9% (3). Most common underlying diagnosis were: Hormonal imbalance (14.6%): Infertility (53.7%); PID (9.2%), a trend different from the study done in Mexico: Hypothyroidism (14.8%); Hyperandrogenism (12.9%) and pituitary adenoma (11.1%).

Conclusion: There prevalence of secondary is a significant higher in developing countries than in developed countries. A good number of cases (83.3%) are treated according to underlying causes in gynaecological department at BMC.