Do women with PMS have slower reaction times and mood changes than others?

Background: Women with premenstrual syndrome are known to experience high negative emotions which is known to drastically affect cognition and psychomotor performance thereby impairing their executive function. Objective: To assess the relationship between cognition and psychomotor skill with self-reported symptoms of negative emotions like depression, anxiety and stress in women with different grades of premenstrual syndrome. Methodology: Study was conducted among 100 female nursing students in the age group 18 -20 years. Data collection tool included a questionnaire of demographic and menstruation characteristics, Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale Questionnaire (DASS). Cognition and psychomotor performance were assessed based on reaction time (both visual & auditory) using PC1000Hz Reaction timer. The study received ethical approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. Every participant gave their informed written consent before participating in the study. Results: Among the 100 female students, 50 each belonged to mild and moderate PMS category. Independent t test revealed a significantly high DASS scores and reaction time scores (both visual & auditory) in mild when compared to moderate PMS category. A favourable association between the severity of PMS and depression, anxiety and stress scores (DASS), and reaction time (RT) scores was discovered using the Pearson correlation test, with p significant at 0.01. Additionally, there was a substantial positive association between DASS scores and RT duration. This suggests that, as there is an increase in the severity of PMS, there was an increase in the negative emotional states scores and increase in the RT duration (both visual and auditory) thereby proving a decline in cognition and psychomotor execution. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that, woman with PMS had high negative emotion effects leading to decline in cognition and psychomotor execution which is a need of the hour to look into their lifestyle modification and treatment modality so as enhance the executive performance.

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