The Effect of Stress on Menstrual Dysfunction in Female Students of Higher Educational Institutions in Moscow

Background: Gynecological morbidity in women of young reproductive age remains an urgent issue in modern medicine. Along with many adverse factors affecting the health of girls and young women, who should be considered as expectant mothers, stress takes one of the leading positions. Objective: To study the level of stress in female students with menstrual dysfunction. Materials and methods: 136 female students from 18 to 23 years old (average age 19.3 +/- 2.6 years). All of the participants completed a questionnaire compiled by the authors on the basis of standard questions in collecting general and gynecological anamnesis, criteria for diagnosing premenstrual syndrome, psychological stress scale PSM-25 (fully included, no changes), and Beck scale (fully included, no changes). The following features of the menstrual cycle were studied: cycle duration, menstruation duration, profusion, soreness, and regularity of menstruation as well as the presence of psychoemotional changes during the phase changes of the cycle. A systematic review was carried out of 25 studies (review articles, qualitative studies, questionnaires, retrospective and prospective studies) published in Russian and English from 2000 to 2019 (with a predominant including (88%) data for the last 10 years) using the PubMed, ScienceDirect, ProQuest and GoogleScholar databases. Results: 82.4% (n = 112) of the examined female students had various menstrual dysfunctions; the highest frequency was premenstrual syndrome (91.1%) and primary dysmenorrhea (85.7%). Students with high levels of stress and depression expressed significantly more often (p<0.05) with irregular rhythms of menstruation in comparison to the healthy group. Conclusions: It is recommended to physicians take into account the stress influence on gynecological pathology, while the awareness of young women about their health status should also be raised.