ArticlePloS one2026
Association between attendance at a behavioral change communication module and dysmenorrhea prevalence among female university students: A propensity score matched comparative study.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
backgroundDysmenorrhea is the most common menstrual disorder among young women and often disrupts daily activities and well-being. Although pharmacological management is widely used, sustainable non-pharmacological strategies remain underexplored, particularly in low-resource settings. This study assessed the association between a behavioral change communication (BCC) module and dysmenorrhea among female university students in Bangladesh.
methodsA matched cross-sectional comparative study initially recruited 498 female students from three public universities. Students attending three BCC sessions were classified as exposed group, while those who did not attend served as non-exposed group. After exclusions, 472 participants were analyzed. Propensity score matching (1:1 nearest-neighbor, caliper of 0.01 and no replacement) yielded 98 matched pairs. The primary measure was the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT), estimated using a doubly robust method to evaluate the association between BCC exposure and dysmenorrhea prevalence in the matched samples.
resultsIn matched samples, the overall prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 69.4%. Prevalence was higher among non-exposed participants (77.6%) compared with those exposed to the BCC module (61.2%). Using the doubly robust estimator, BCC-exposed participants had a 23 percentage-point lower prevalence of dysmenorrhea than non-exposed participants (ATT = -0.23; 95% CI: -0.33 to -0.13; p < 0.001), after adjustment for observed covariates. This association remained consistent and statistically significant across regression adjustment and inverse probability weighting estimators of the ATT. Participants exposed to BCC module more frequently reported regular physical activity and higher dietary diversity, both associated with lower odds of dysmenorrhea in post-matching analyses.
conclusionExposure to a theory-driven BCC module was associated with lower reported dysmenorrhea prevalence and healthier lifestyle behaviors among female university students in Bangladesh. Due to non-random design and lack of baseline outcome data, results are associative rather than causal, highlighting the need for further longitudinal or randomized studies to evaluate the impact of BCC programs.
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.