Knowledge and perception of uterine fibroid among teenage girls with routine pelvic Ultrasonographic evaluation of teenagers

Abstract

Introduction: Uterine fibroid is the most common benign neoplasms which is rare before pubertal and after menopause.

Aim: The study is aimed to ascertain the knowledge and perception of uterine fibroid among teenage girls.

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study with free medical outreach of 865 in school teenagers was adopted. Participation was voluntary however; written consent and ethical approval were obtained prior to commencement. Well-structured pretested questionnaire with the Likert scale multiple questions format of YES, NO, and I Don’t know (No opinion); was used. Real time grey scale ultrasonography was done with Sonolite Edge Portable ultrasound machine coupled with 3.5MHz curvilinear probe using standard pelvic ultrasonograhic procedure in the presence of a chaperon. The findings and data retrieved from completed questionnaires were entered into a spreadsheet and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 22.0 statistical software for windows. The results presented using descriptive statistics.

Results: Participants were aged 14years (n=157, 18.15%), 15years (23.01%, n=199), 16years (n=216, 24.97%) and 17years (23.12%, n=200). Majority of the respondents (81.39%) have not heard of the lesion. The source of information was mainly from family members (55.28%). Spiritual connotation (40.86%) and Smoking (11.83%) were perceived to be associated with the lesion. Normal pelvic ultrasound finding was the most common (82.20%). PID (7.75%), ovarian cyst (1.50%), and UTI (7.40%) were also seen. A 13years old was having uterine fibroid, while 4 cases teenage pregnancy (0.46%) were seen at ages 16 and 17years.

Conclusion: There was limited knowledge with associated wrong perception of spiritual connotations concerning the lesion. A 13 year old teen had the lesion; therefore evaluation of teenagers for uterine fibroid has become imperative and the inclusion of some gender based disorders in reproductive health education is recommended.