---
title: What are the most common premenstrual symptoms and how severe are they?
description: The most common symptoms are bloating, cramps, breast tenderness, irritability, and mood swings. Symptoms varied widely: 40.8% of women had mild symptoms, 28.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/premenstrual-symptoms-severity-duration-and-typology-an-international-cross-2009/
---

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- What are the most common premenstrual symptoms and how severe are they?

Survey study, 2009

# What are the most common premenstrual symptoms and how severe are they?

The most common symptoms are bloating, cramps, breast tenderness, irritability, and mood swings. Symptoms varied widely: 40.8% of women had mild symptoms, 28.7% had moderate mental symptoms, 21.9% had moderate physical symptoms, and 8.6% had severe symptoms.

 Moderate study design

4,085 women aged 14-49 in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, and Mexico.

## What they did

Researchers randomly called 4,085 women aged 14-49 in eight countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, and Mexico). Over the phone, each woman was asked about 23 different premenstrual symptoms.

## What they found

The most frequent symptoms were abdominal bloating, cramps or abdominal pain, breast tenderness, irritability, and mood swings. The severity of symptoms was directly linked to how long they lasted. Women could be grouped into four types: 40.8% mild, 28.7% moderate with mostly mental symptoms, 21.9% moderate with mostly physical symptoms, and 8.6% with severe symptoms of both kinds.

## What it means for you

Premenstrual symptoms are very common and range from mild to severe. How long symptoms last is strongly linked to how bad they are. The main limit: this captured what women reported at one point in time rather than tracking symptoms day by day, and symptom patterns may differ by country.

4,085

women surveyed across 8 countries

40.8%

women with mild symptoms

8.6%

women with severe symptoms

## About the study

Original title Premenstrual symptoms -- severity, duration and typology: an international cross-sectional study Authors Dennerstein L, Lehert P, Bäckström TC et al. Journal Menopause international Year 2009 Study design Survey study Participants 4,085 What was tested None - descriptive symptom survey Read the paper [doi.org/10.1258/mi.2009.009030](https://doi.org/10.1258/mi.2009.009030)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Bloating, breast tenderness and physical symptoms](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-physical-symptoms/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)

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Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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