--- title: How many university students have menstrual problems, and is stress related to them? description: 91% of the students studied had some kind of menstrual problem. Stress was clearly linked to worse menstrual problems, including pain, absent periods, and pre url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/prevalence-of-menstrual-problems-and-their-association-with-psychological-stress-2018/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - How many university students have menstrual problems, and is stress related to them? Survey study, 2018 # How many university students have menstrual problems, and is stress related to them? 91% of the students studied had some kind of menstrual problem. Stress was clearly linked to worse menstrual problems, including pain, absent periods, and premenstrual symptoms. This is a large study but cannot prove stress causes the problems. Moderate study design 738 female health science students aged 18-25 in Saudi Arabia ## What they did Cross-sectional study of 738 female health science students aged 18-25 at a university in Saudi Arabia conducted between February 2015 and February 2016. Students completed questionnaires about menstrual problems and stress levels. ## What they found 91% of students had some menstrual problem. The most common were period pain at 89.7% and premenstrual symptoms at 46.7%. Other problems included irregular periods (27%), abnormal bleeding (9.3%), absent periods (9.2%), and heavy periods (3.4%). 39% of students had high perceived stress. Students with high stress had 4 times higher odds of absent periods, 2 times higher odds of period pain, and 2.8 times higher odds of premenstrual symptoms. ## What it means for you Most university students in this study had menstrual problems, and stress was strongly linked to them. However, this is observational data, so we cannot know if stress causes the problems, if menstrual problems cause stress, or if other factors like sleep or nutrition affect both. 738 participants 91% had some menstrual problem 89.7% had period pain ## About the study Original title Prevalence of menstrual problems and their association with psychological stress in young female students studying health sciences Authors Rafique N, Al-Sheikh MH Journal Saudi medical journal Year 2018 Study design Survey study What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.15537/smj.2018.1.21438](https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2018.1.21438) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Dysmenorrhea and period pain](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-dysmenorrhea/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Psychotherapy, counselling and education](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-psychotherapy/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Survey study, 2025 What factors are linked to PMS in female graduate students? Survey study, 2024 How does period pain affect students' academic performance? Survey study, 2024 Is stress linked to premenstrual syndrome? Systematic review, 2025 Does teaching adolescent girls about their menstrual cycle and health help reduce period pain and PMS? Survey study, 2026 Does exercise help college women with period problems and mental health? Survey study, 2026 Does fear of childbirth explain why women with PMS are more likely to develop postpartum depression? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗