Medical intervention in adolescent menorrhagia

Objectives: To find out causative factors of adolescent menorrhagia and success of various treatments. Design: Descriptive cross sectional study Place & duration of study: Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore from May 2004 to April 2005. Subject and methods: Fifty unmarried patients at 12-19 years with menorrhagia selected by non-probability convenience sampling. Blood loss was determined by duration of bleeding extending beyond seven days, passage of clots and presence of anaemia. Results: The most common cause of menorrhagia was DUB (92%) followed by bleeding and endocrinal disorder. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and antifibrinolytic agent produced 75% subjective improvement in complaints. However, combined oral contraceptive produced 66% improvement. Conclusion: NSAIDS and antifibrinolytic drugs were found to be effective in reducing menstrual loss and should be used as first line of treatment.