Study, 1987
How common is PMS in African women in Niger, and does education or urban living affect it?
PMS is very common: only 5% of the 400 women had no symptoms, with 31% experiencing severe symptoms that disrupted daily life. Symptoms were more common and severe in urban, literate women than in rural women, likely due to different pregnancy and breast-feeding patterns.
What they did
From March to November 1984, researchers examined 400 African women aged 14 to 30. They classified women by where they lived (urban or rural), whether they could read and write, and whether they earned wages. They then assessed their PMS symptoms and how severe they were.
What they found
Only 5% of women had no symptoms. 31% reported severe symptoms that disrupted daily life. The most common signs were painful breasts, lower abdominal pain, and nervousness. Swelling of the legs was rare. PMS was more common in young, literate, urban women. Illiterate rural women were more often symptom-free or had less intense symptoms. These differences related to pregnancy and breast-feeding patterns.
What it means for you
In this population, PMS is very common. Education and urban living are connected with more severe PMS symptoms. The protection in rural women seems to come from repeated pregnancy and breast-feeding, which reduce how often periods occur. These findings apply only to this region and time period.
400
women studied in Niger
5%
women with no PMS symptoms
31%
women with severe, disruptive symptoms
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual syndrome in Sahelian Africa. A comparative study of 400 literate and illiterate women in Niger
- Authors
- Cénac A, Maikibi DK, Develoux M
- Journal
- Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Year
- 1987
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 400
- What was tested
- No intervention; observational study
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0035-9203(87)90400-7
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