Survey study, 2010
What premenstrual symptoms do Asian women experience most?
The most common symptoms are joint, muscle and back pain, cramps, abdominal pain, and breast tenderness. How severe the symptoms are directly matches how many months per year a woman is affected (correlation 0.85).
What they did
Cross-sectional survey of 1,202 women aged 15 to 49 years in Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Thailand. Researchers used face-to-face interviews with a questionnaire listing 23 premenstrual symptoms and questions about sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.
What they found
The most prevalent symptoms were joint, muscle and back pain, cramps, abdominal pain and breast tenderness. Symptom severity was directly proportional to duration of symptoms (R equals 0.85). Multiple regression showed significant effects of age, educational level, and number of children on symptom duration and severity. Certain symptoms differed between countries.
What it means for you
Physical pain symptoms are very common in PMS across Asian countries. Women who are affected for more months of the year tend to experience worse symptoms. The study is limited because it relies on self-reported surveys without clinical diagnosis, and only includes three countries studied in 2010.
1202
women surveyed
23
premenstrual symptoms in questionnaire
0.85
correlation between severity and duration
About the study
- Original title
- A population-based survey of Asian women's experience of premenstrual symptoms
- Authors
- Dennerstein L, Lehert P, Keung LS et al.
- Journal
- Menopause international
- Year
- 2010
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 1,202
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1258/mi.2010.010034
Topics
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