---
title: How common are symptoms around menstruation? | Niyora
description: Very common. Women showed a clear pattern of worsening health just before their period, with symptoms peaking at the start of menstruation and improving durin
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/a-survey-of-paramenstrual-complaints-by-covert-and-by-overt-methods-1986/
---

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- How common are symptoms around menstruation?

Cohort study, 1986

# How common are symptoms around menstruation?

Very common. Women showed a clear pattern of worsening health just before their period, with symptoms peaking at the start of menstruation and improving during it.

 Moderate study design

1386 randomly selected women aged 20 to 40

## What they did

Survey of 1386 randomly selected women aged 20 to 40. They tracked symptoms over 6 weeks using daily recording during the study and a retrospective questionnaire at the end. 608 women menstruated during the study period.

## What they found

A clear pattern emerged of premenstrual decline in perceived health that worsened until menstruation began, then improved rapidly during menstruation. The overall pattern was similar with both assessment methods, but individual women's day-to-day records often differed from their later recall.

## What it means for you

Premenstrual symptoms follow a real, predictable pattern linked to the menstrual cycle. However, how we remember our symptoms later differs from how we felt day-to-day. This matters for understanding how PMS is reported and measured.

1386

women randomly selected

608

who menstruated during study

6 weeks

study duration

## About the study

Original title A survey of paramenstrual complaints by covert and by overt methods Authors Taylor RJ, Alexander DA, Fordyce ID Journal The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners Year 1986 Study design Cohort study Participants 1,386 What was tested None - observational study Open access Yes Read the paper [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3656263/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3656263/)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)

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