PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF PRE-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN WITH UTERINE FIBROIDS- A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

B.K. Rao¹, K. Vineetha², PR Archana³, V. Lakshmi⁴, R. G Bhat²

¹Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal, India, ²Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,, Manipal, India, ³Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Manipal, India, ⁴Prasanna School of Public Health Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Data Science, Manipal, India

Background: The prevalence of illnesses that impact women's reproductive systems is rising as a result of modern lifestyles. Especially in a country like India, women today experience higher levels of stress because of dual responsibility of managing house hold chores and employment. Unknowingly, this renders them vulnerable to metabolic and endocrine disorders . One such prevalent gynecological condition that affects 20% to 40% of women of reproductive age is uterine fibroids. Due to its frequency, the severity of its symptoms, and the total impact of the disease, it has emerged as a global public health concern. Physical activity is highly recommended in the primary management of metabolic and endocrine disorders. In order to promote and advise physical activity for women with fibroids, this study examines the involvement of women in various physical activities.

Purpose: To understand the frequency/variety of physical activity among women with uterine fibroids.

Methods: The Uterine fibroid quality of life and health -related lifestyle questionnaire was developed and validated as part of an ongoing prospective study to understand the influence of thyroid function and lifestyle among women with Uterine Fibroid. Only the questions on physical activity was included for this presentation. The study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in southern part of Karnataka, India for a period of six months. Women aged 18-55 years with uterine fibroids (n = 100) completed a questionnaire. The questions were framed to find out about exercise, yoga, gym, house-hold activities, etc using a six-point Likert scale. A predefined proforma was used to collect sociodemographic data such as age and BMI. Descriptive statistics were used to report the participants' physical activity levels.

Results: The participants' mean age was 43±6 years, and their average BMI was 25.8±4.1. Among 100 participants, 31(31%) women had severe abnormal uterine bleeding, 23(23%) had abdominal pain, 18(18%) had both symptoms, and the rest 28(28%) were asymptomatic. 41% of women responded as they never do any exercises, while 12% participants answered practicing Yoga at least 3 to 4 times a week or more. Only 5% of women take regular gym training. Majority of the women (83%) do their household chore daily.36% women were involving in some kind of extra manual labors daily,26% women involved in farming or gardening more often and 38% women responded for other physical activities such as climbing stairs, lifting weights etc.

Conclusions: The Indian women with uterine fibroids are more into household chores and less frequently involve into other structured physical activities like exercises, yoga and or gym training. Whether physical activity has any influence on uterine fibroid symptom severity is currently being explored.

Implications: The study explored the overall physical activity of women with uterine fibroid. However, physical activity level was not quantified using any valid measures like Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Overall research in the domain of Uterine fibroid and physical activity is very limited and offers wide opportunity for further research and develop strategies to impart better quality of life interventions for women in early age.

Funding acknowledgements: This work was supported by Manipal Academy of Higher Education,Manipal and Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR)

Keywords:
Physical activity
Exercise
Uterine fibroids

Topics:
Pelvic, sexual and reproductive health
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Primary health care

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Kasturba Medical College

Committee: Kasturba Medical College &Kasturba Hospital Institutional Ethics Committee,

Ethics number: Ref No:IEC-474/2020