SURVEY ON THE EFFICACY OF METHODS FOR POSTPONING THE MENSTRUATION AMONG IRANIAN FEMALE PILGRIMS DURING THE HADJ OF 1994

Abstract

It is required for many women participating in Hadj rituals to use some methods to postpone their menstruation, because some of the Hadj assignment rites are performed inside the Mecca Holly Mosque (Masjid-al-haram) and in case the woman pilgrim is menstruating, her arrival to Masjid-al-haram is according to the religous law.
This survey is to find out the most effective and least troublesome method for postponing the menstruation in women. The population women pilgrims above 15 years old who were chosen bv means of convenient sampling were studied bv this survey The gathering of information was by means of questionnaires containing data such as demographic characteristics woman's background with respect to her previous menstruation, the methos applied to postpone the menstruation and resulting troubles.
There were 992 studied cases which included 189 cases over 50Years old and 803 cases under 50 years old. Oral citniraceptive (OC) with a low dose (LD) was the best method applied to postpone the menstruation. The meaningful age for using these methods (P<().0()1) was lower than those who used no method, but no meaningful difference between menstruation length "P = 0.56) and menstruation interval (P = 0.251) was observed. Comparison between troubles caused by LD and high dose (HD) one and two daily showed that LD one daily caused less troubles. Considering that with the administration of one daily LDOC spotting (3.6%) and the occurance of menstruation were of least prevalence and with LD other troubles like nausea were lower than other methods, so the best method to postpone the menstruation was using OC tablcsts with low dose and one daily. To eliminate the trouble of spotting by LDOC it i" rccommcncd that the consumption is started simultaneous with the menstruation from 2 cycles before traveling to Mecca, and only during the Hadj period taking of OC be continued after the ordinary weekly taking of drug.