How many adolescent girls have PMS and how much do they know about it?

Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to a set of distressing symptoms experienced around the time of menstrual flow. Hormonal changes may underlie these symptoms which can lead to difficulties in day-to-day functioning and poor quality of life. Methodology: A community based cross sectional study was done in the catchment areas of a medical college in district Gautam Buddha Nagar. A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect the data . The adolescent females (10-19 years) were included in the study. The study was conducted with following objectives -to estimate the prevalence of Pre Menstrual Syndrome and determine its knowledge, attitude and practices in Adolescent Females of urban catchment area of Bhangel. Results: The number of study participants were 300 adolescent girls, out of whom 40.9% were in the age group of 10-14years and 59.1% were in 15-19 years. The Prevalence of PMS was 32% in the current study .Majority (84%) of girls had no knowledge of PMS. Around one third (64.8%) of girls agreed that it is important to spread awareness about PMS and three-fourth (76.4%) opined that there should be a Pre Menstrual leave from schools/ colleges/ work places. Approximately half of them (42 %) who suffered from PMS were taking medical or non medical interventions for the management of their symptoms . Most frequently practiced non-medical intervention was use of hot water bags. Conclusion: This study was conducted among 300 Adolescent girls from urban slum areas of district Gautam Budhha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh . Knowledge of pre menstrual syndrome was quite poor and while there was willingness to improve their attitude, follow up practices were lacking.

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