Reproductive health status of rural married women in Tamil Nadu: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Reproductive health of women is of special concern, especially during their reproductive years where the reproductive morbidity is very high, especially in countries like India. This study was carried out to find the reproductive health status of rural married women and identify those suffering from reproductive morbidity to provide appropriate guidance and treatment. This community-based cross-sectional descriptive study was carried among rural married women above 18 years of age in the field practice areas of a medical college. By simple random sampling method, the required sample size of 650 was identified. Data collected by female investigators using a pretested structured questionnaire was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Most of the study participants were in the age group of 21-40 years. About 32% of married women delivered by cesarean section and exclusive breastfeeding was followed by 88.9% of the mothers. Around 78% of the participants used contraceptive methods and the major reason given was for economic reasons (48%). About 67% of study participants suffered from one or more gynecological problems such as menorrhagia, lower abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea, and abnormal vaginal discharge. UTI (14%) and RTI (11.6%) were the most commonly diagnosed gynecological morbidity. Pallor was present in 45.5% of the study participants and 6.9% had clinical goiter. High prevalence of gynecological morbidity in this study shows that there is a dire need to plan and implement health education and awareness creation programs to complement the existing programs targeting women.