ArticleWomen's health (London, England)
Menstrual hygiene practices of adolescent secondary school girls in rural Anambra communities.
Article in Women's health (London, England). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic narrative review on Menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and The Gambia.International health · 2026Pooled it
- Menstrual product preference and factors associated with use of freely-distributed reusable products among secondary students in Uganda: a longitudinal study.BMC women's health · 2026Trial
- Economic insecurity, access to menstrual materials, and sexual coercion: a qualitative study among adolescent schoolgirls in Ibadan, Nigeria.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- The Overlooked Link between Adolescent Menstrual Health and School Attendance: A Call for Integrated Reproductive Health Education in Nigerian Schools.International journal of school health · 2026Article
- Factors influencing menstrual hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices among adolescent girls in African rural schools: scoping review.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2025Review
- Bleeding barriers: Reimaging menstrual health research through a global and interdisciplinary perspective.Women's health (London, England)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdolescent girls face numerous challenges which hinder their ability to manage menstruation in a healthy and dignified manner.
objectivesTo examine the menstrual hygiene practices of adolescent girls schooling in rural Anambra communities. STUDY
designCross-sectional descriptive study.
methodParticipants were selected using multistage stratified random sampling technique and interviewed using self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0.
resultsMean age of all, pre-menarche and post-menarche girls were 14.7 ± 1.84, 12.8 ± 1.09 and 15.1 ± 1.73 years, respectively. About 46% of the pre-menarche girls had not received any information on menstruation. Common sources of initial menstruation information were mother (87.3%), school (52.2%) and peers (20.0%). Among the 1091 (85.0% (1091/1283)) post-menarche girls, last menstrual period, last menstrual period duration and cycle length could not be recalled by 53.9%, 34.4% and 39.3%, respectively. Majority (98.3%) who could recall last menstrual period had a cycle length of ⩽30 days and the mean duration of menses was 4.4 ± 0.84 days. Disposable sanitary pad was mostly (60%) cited as recommended product, but cloth/rags (40.6%) or tissue paper (32. 3%) were predominantly used. Majority (88.6%) took their bath ⩾twice/day, 50.9% changed sanitary product ⩽twice/day while 72.5% exhibited poor hand washing. Sanitary products were mostly discarded by burning (45.4%). Fifty-one percent could not change in school predominantly due to lack of functional toilets/changing rooms (84.2%) while 72.5% of those who changed did so in bushes or unused spaces. Challenges faced during menstruation include restriction from holy places (38.9%), waist pain (74.9%), blood stains (36.1%) and lack of money to buy pad (27.0%). Factors significantly associated with using commercial pads were age (p = 0.047), class (p = 0.006), mother's educational status (p < 0.001), social class (p < 0.001), ability to recall last menstrual period date (p = 0.029) or duration (p = 0.001).
conclusionMenstrual hygiene management was unsatisfactory among studied adolescents. Continuous education of adolescent girls on menstrual hygiene management and advocacy for adequate menstrual hygiene management support are imperative.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.