Survey study, 2013
How common are PMS and PMDD among female medical students, and do they affect schoolwork?
In this study of 182 female medical students, 90.1% met criteria for PMS and 26.4% for PMDD. Over 70% reported that symptoms harmed their exam performance and concentration.
What they did
Cross-sectional study over two months at one medical college. All female medical students with regular cycles and no major health issues were invited to fill a questionnaire about symptoms based on standard criteria, then researchers looked for links between symptom severity and academic problems.
What they found
Of 182 students, 90.1% met criteria for PMS and 26.4% met criteria for PMDD. The most common moderate-to-severe symptoms were fatigue (61.0%), irritability (52.2%), and depressed mood (50.5%). Over 70% reported that symptoms negatively affected exam performance and concentration. More severe symptoms were linked to worse academic problems.
What it means for you
PMS and PMDD are very common in medical students and clearly affect their ability to study and perform on exams. The main limitation is that this was only one college in one country, and the study only included medical students, not all women, so results may not apply everywhere.
90.1%
Percentage meeting PMS criteria
26.4%
Percentage meeting PMDD criteria
61.0%
Fatigue as most common severe symptom
About the study
- Original title
- A Nonparametric Bayesian Approach to Estimating Malaria Prophylactic Effect After Two Treatments
- Authors
- Sadia Shoukat, Azra Ahmed, Sakeena Ahmed et al.
- Journal
- Journal of Gandhara Medical and Dental Science
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 182
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.37762/jgmds.13-2.803
Topics
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