Menstrual pattern in women with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is known as one of the common progressive chronic diseases in recent decades. Four times increased rate of infected women than men and concurrence between disease and reproductive ages may increase the worries in women. Therefore, this study was performed with aim to investigate the changes in menstrual pattern of infected people before and after diagnosis of MS.
This correlation and descriptive-analytic study was performed on 132 women with MS referred to MS institute in Khorasan province in 2014-2015. Sampling method was applied based on availability and non-randomized method. Included criteria included single dose therapy, lack of disability and other associated chronic diseases, lack of pregnancy or breastfeeding. To determine the sample size, firstly the variance was calculated based on the primary sample pack of 20 cases, and then using Cochrane simple sampling Formula, sample size was obtained as 132 cases. The study's tools included a structured questionnaire with multiple choice and short answers based on the studies, books and articles regarding to the aim of the study. Content validity was used for questionnaire validity and Cronbach's alpha was used for reliability. Cronbach's alpha was obtained as 0.8. Data was analyzed by software SPSS (version 16). P Single sample Wilcoxon test was used to evaluate the changes in the studied variables before and after infection to the disease based on patient's report and completed questionnaire. Also, t-test and Spearmen test showed no significant differences between duration of infection to the disease, duration of menstruation, menstrual bleeding, menstruation interval and dysmenorrhea (P>0.05).
The results of this study showed that Multiple Sclerosis in infected women who used single drug to control their disease has no effect on menstrual changes such as menstrual bleeding, duration of menstrual bleeding, menstruation interval and dysmenorrhea.