---
title: Do women who had PMS experience worse menopausal symptoms? | Niyora
description: Women with previous PMS had worse emotional and physical menopausal symptoms and lower quality of life, but not worse hot flashes or sexual symptoms. The evid
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/association-of-menopausal-symptoms-and-menopausal-quality-of-life-with-2023/
---

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- Do women who had PMS experience worse menopausal symptoms?

Cohort study, 2023

# Do women who had PMS experience worse menopausal symptoms?

Women with previous PMS had worse emotional and physical menopausal symptoms and lower quality of life, but not worse hot flashes or sexual symptoms. The evidence is weak because women were asked to remember their PMS from years earlier.

 Early or limited evidence

120 postmenopausal women in Malawi (29 with previous PMS, 91 without)

## What they did

120 postmenopausal women were asked about their current menopausal symptoms and, looking back, whether they had PMS before menopause. Researchers compared women with previous PMS (29 women) to those without previous PMS (91 women).

## What they found

Women with previous PMS had higher emotional and physical menopausal symptoms and more impaired quality of life. Hot flashes, urinary symptoms, and sexual symptoms were similar in both groups.

## What it means for you

Women who had PMS may struggle more during menopause with certain symptoms but not all. The main limits are that women were asked to remember their PMS (not tracked when it happened), the sample is small, and all participants were from one country.

120

total women studied

29 (24.2%)

had previous PMS

91 (75.8%)

did not have previous PMS

## About the study

Original title Association of menopausal symptoms and menopausal quality of life with premenstrual syndrome Authors Tuygar-Okutucu F, Cimilli-Senocak G, Ceyhun HA et al. Journal Malawi medical journal : the journal of Medical Association of Malawi Year 2023 Study design Cohort study Participants 120 What was tested None - observational study Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.4314/mmj.v35i2.4](https://doi.org/10.4314/mmj.v35i2.4)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pmdd/)[Perimenopause and menopause](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-perimenopause/)[Quality of life and daily functioning](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-quality-of-life/)

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