THE IMPACT OF MENSTRUATION ON HAEMATOCRIT AND SERUM TRANSFERRIN LEVELS IN FEMALE STUDENTS OF MADONNA UNIVERSITY, ELELE, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

There had been an incident of dizziness or fainting and irregular menstrual cycle among menstruating female students in Madonna University, there is therefore a need to evaluate serum transferrin level and haematocrit value to ascertain the causative effect of such incidents.A total of Sixty subjects were enrolled for the study within the age range of 18 to 26 years in which thirty subjects were used as tests and thirty subjects were used as control. All subjects were apparently healthy with none having any form of illness.. Blood samples were collected from subjects and were analyzed of serum transferrin (g/dl) and haematocrit (%) value using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and Microhematocrit method respectively. The result obtained showed that Haematocrit (%) values in females not on menstruation (38.1333±1.73 %) were significantly higher than females on menstruation (33.80±2.93 %)(p<0.05). The result also obtained from the comparison of menstruating females and non-menstruating females showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in serum transferrin (g/dl) levels in non-menstruating females (2.54 ± 0.91 g/dl) when compared to menstruating females (3.92±0.524 g/dl). In conclusion, this study contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of haematocrit and serum transferrin levels in menstruating females in Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers state. These findings suggest a physiological adaptation in response to menstrual blood loss, which may contribute to understanding the hematological profile of menstruating females. It is therefore recommended that iron supplement should be advocated among female menstruating students to avert the adverse effect associated with menstruation.