CONCLUSION
In our population of 953 adolescent girls in France aged 15 to 19 years,
92% suffered from dysmenorrhea, 8.9% of whom experienced severe
dysmenorrhea. The factors associated with severe dysmenorrhea identified
in multivariate analysis were heavy menstruation, young age at menarche,
inter-menstrual pain and a low BMI. The girls often sought
symptom-relief through ineffective self-medication and were often of the
opinion that menstrual pain was a “womanly burden”.
Underdiagnosed, undertreated, trivialized and insufficiently taken into
consideration, dysmenorrhea is nevertheless the cause of physical,
educational, social and psychological repercussions and can sometimes be
an obstacle to the educational and professional progress of the young
girls affected. It is therefore essential that this symptomatology be
considered a public health issue.
Better information provided to adolescents, as well as to their families
and school nurses, could encourage them to consult a physician for
access to an effective therapeutic option. Furthermore, general
practitioners, the primary care providers, should be trained to actively
screen their adolescent girl patients to improve dysmenorrhea management
and not to misdiagnose secondary dysmenorrhea.