Reporting of lactation and normal menstrual information by Papua New Guinean women
- Author:
G. Mola
;
A. B. Amoa
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Adult;
Breast Feeding;
Female;
Humans;
Lactation - physiology;
Menstruation - physiology;
Papua New Guinea - epidemiology
- From:
Papua New Guinea medical journal
1999;42(3-4):71-72
- CountryPapua New Guinea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
As part of a survey of 600 women enrolled in a study of postpartum progesterone-only contraception (400 women who opted to use progesterone-only contraception and 200 controls) participants were asked about menstrual history and lactation experience. The mean longest menstrual cycle duration was found to be 29.5+/-SD3.5 days and the mean shortest cycle duration was 26.6+/-SD2.8 days. The mean duration of menstrual bleeding was 3.75+/-SD1.16 days. Few women reported menstrual period problems such as dysmenorrhoea (6.5%) and menorrhagia with clots (0.7%). However, 3% of the women reported irregular cycles with intervals of longer than 1 month. Overall the women reported breastfeeding their previous baby for a mean duration of 14 months. The group of women electing to use hormonal contraception reported that they had breastfed their last baby for 13.5+/-SD7.5 months while control women had done so for 14.1+/-SD9.4 months. The longest mean duration that women reported to have breastfed a previous infant was 19.5+/-SD9.6 months in the hormonal contraception group and 19.1+/-SD8.6 months in the control group.
