Survey study, 2019
How common are PMS and PMDD in adolescent girls, and how much do they affect daily life?
19.3% of girls aged 8-23 had moderate to severe PMS and 4.6% had PMDD. Nearly 1 in 4 girls missed school because of symptoms, showing PMS significantly disrupts their education. Older age, painful periods, heavy periods, high stress, and having a mother with PMS all increased risk.
What they did
Cross-sectional study in schools in Anand District, Gujarat, India of 1,702 girls aged 8-23 who had started menstruating. Researchers used the self-administered Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool for Adolescents (PSST-A) and assessed related factors like painful periods, heavy bleeding, stress, and family history.
What they found
19.3% had moderate to severe PMS, 4.6% had PMDD, and 94.8% had at least one PMS symptom. 65.7% had moderate to severe symptoms. 71.2% had painful periods, 15.2% had heavy bleeding, and 25.1% missed school or college. 81.3% believed PMS was normal, 53.0% reported moderate to severe stress. Risk factors: older age, painful periods, heavy periods, high stress, and mother with PMS. Younger age at first period and junk food contributed to PMDD.
What it means for you
PMS affects almost all girls to some degree, but severe PMS affects about 1 in 5 and significantly disrupts school attendance. Several factors increase risk: stress, painful and heavy periods, and family history. A strength is the large sample size of 1,702 girls. A limit is the cross-sectional design cannot prove cause-and-effect.
19.3%
had moderate to severe PMS
4.6%
had PMDD
25.1%
missed school due to symptoms
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual syndrome in Anand District, Gujarat: A cross-sectional survey
- Authors
- Kamat SV, Nimbalkar A, Phatak AG et al.
- Journal
- Journal of family medicine and primary care
- Year
- 2019
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 1,702
- What was tested
- None - observational study
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_302_18
Topics
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