ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2001 April;160(2):49-52

Copyright © 2001 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Menarche and menstrual cycle among deaf girls

Skandhan K. P. ¹, Dayani S. A. ²

¹ Department of Physiology, Sri MP Shah Medical College, Jamnagar (India); ² Department of Kaumarabrithya, Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, India

Background. In this study, the influence of sound on initiation of first and following menstrual cycles was studied.
Methods. For this purpose eighty three deaf girls from schools for deaf children at Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and Bombay were selected. They belonged to the age group of 14-20 years. They were interviewed with the help of their teachers, for understanding their details of menarche like mean menarcheal age (MMA), experience of menarche, total number of days of bleeding, total blood loss, dysmenorrhea; the details of their subsequent three menstrual cycles were also collected.
Results. Their MMA was 14.93 years, which was not statistically different from normal girls. All participants had pre menarcheal knowledge about menstrual cycle from different sources. Most (57%) of them gained this information from their mothers. This was similar to an earlier report about normal girls. All participants reported the experience of menarche as frightening. Their experience on menarcheal blood loss and the details of subsequent menstrual cycle like its length (days), pattern of blood loss and dysmenorrhea were comparable to normal and no difference was found.
Conclusions. This study on deaf girls thus concludes that the sound present in surrounding atmosphere does not have any effect on normal female reproductive function.