Background: Primary dysmenorrhea significantly impacts women's quality of life, causing absenteeism, reduced concentration, and impaired daily activities. Its global prevalence has steadily risen from 58.8% before 2010 to 71.5% from 2015-2021.
Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the severity of primary dysmenorrhea between athletic and non-athletic females.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 628 athletic and non-athletic females complaining of primary dysmenorrhea; their ages ranged from 18 to 28 years old, their body mass index was below 30 kg/m2, all were virgins, and they didn't take any medications for menstrual pain. They were divided into two groups. The athletic group consisted of 314 females selected from different clubs in Egypt. They were performing exercises for more than 3 days/week for at least 6 months. The non-athletic group of 314 females was selected from Benha and Cairo University students, they didn't participate in any type of sport. The outcome measures involved visual analogue scale (VAS) to evaluate pain intensity and WaLLID scale to assess the integrated features of dysmenorrhea once during the study. Analgesic requirements were also detected during the study.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference between both groups in the mean value of VAS and Walidd scale (p=0.001). The severity of dysmenorrhea and requirements of analgesics were higher in the non-athletic group.
Conclusion: Accordingly, it can be concluded that the severity of primary dysmenorrhea was lower in the athletic group, who also reported less use of analgesics.
Key words: Primary dysmenorrhea, Athletic females, Non-athletic females.