Quality of public school toilets and the frequency of changing sanitary napkins among students in public secondary schools in the City of Manila, Philippines

Table 1 Socio-economic and menstrual hygiene characteristics of respondents (n = 526)

Characteristic	Number	Percentage
Age (years), median (IQR)	13	(13–14)
Father’s educational attainment
Secondary incompletion	167	31.8
Secondary	246	46.7
Tertiary	113	21.5
Age of menarche (years), median (IQR)	12	(11–12)
Frequency of changing napkins in school toilets
Once	239	45.4
Twice	124	23.6
Three times	37	7.0
Four times or more	3	0.6
Not changed	123	23.4
Daily frequency of changing napkins in any place
Once	17	3.2
Twice	122	23.2
Three times	237	45.1
Four times or more	150	28.5
Not changed	0	0.0
Level of the menstrual flow
Light	17	3.2
Moderate	406	77.2
Heavy	103	19.6

ISSN: 1349-4147