Volume 27, Issue 134, April 2023

Assessing women's knowledge of the effects of vitamin D on the menstrual cycle and its associated symptoms

Bayan Fawaz Alzahrani¹, Amani Omar Safdar¹, Roua Fahad Alghamdi¹, Waad Ibrahim Barnawi¹, Waad Salem Almatrafi¹, Abeer Shaker Elmoursy Ali^2♦, Wesam A Nasif^3,4

¹Medical student, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
²Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
⁴Molecular Biology Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, Sadat City University, Sadat City, Cairo, Egypt

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
ORCID: 0000-0002-6047-7818

ABSTRACT

Background: Vitamin D has numerous important roles. Recent research has demonstrated that vitamin D also reduces menstrual cycle-related symptoms, however comparatively few studies have been conducted purely on this topic. This study is to determine the level of awareness on the effects of vitamin D on the menstrual cycle among women in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2022 to January 2023 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Using an online questionnaire, a random sample of 385 females aged ≥15 years were surveyed to obtain data. The data were analyzed with R Studio (version 4.1.1) and Fisher's exact test. In addition, Pearson's Chi-squared test was performed to compare participants who were aware of the connection between vitamin D and the menstrual cycle to those who were not. Results: According to the study, 22.4% of respondents were aware of the relationship between vitamin D and menstruation cycle symptoms. Furthermore, 37.2% thought vitamin D alleviated the intensity of those symptoms. For 46.6% of the participants, the average age at the onset of puberty was 10-12 years and only (5.2%) reached puberty after the age of 15. The p-value for the connection between the age at which the subjects started puberty and the severity of menstrual cycle symptoms was 0.019. Conclusion: Women in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia, are not aware of the correlation between vitamin D and menstruation. In addition to expanding our understanding of this connection, we must strive to raise public awareness of it.

Keywords: Vitamin D, menstrual cycle, women, symptoms, knowledge

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e186ms2955

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i134/e186ms2955

Published: 06 April 2023