Impact of the awareness and fear of COVID-19 on menstrual symptoms in women: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

The researchers' aim was to determine the impact of the awareness and fear of COVID-19 on menstrual symptoms. We conducted the cross-sectional study with 125 women and collected using the Visual Analog Scale, the Menstruation Symptom Scale, the Awareness of COVID-19 Scale and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. While 39% of the women reported that there was no change in the menstrual pattern during the pandemic process, 22.4% reported an increase in menstrual pain and 25.6% reported deterioration in the menstrual pattern. A one-unit increase in the women's fear of COVID-19 scale score increases the Menstrual Symptom Scale total score by 1016 points (p < .001). However, the awareness of COVID-19 had no impact on menstrual symptoms. As fear of COVID-19 increases menstrual symptoms, when providing nursing care, nurses should be aware that women need more support to cope with this condition.