Do girls with clinically significant PMS have worse quality of life than those without it?

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most vague and ill-defined phenomena in the field of woman health. Almost all its definitions concluded that it is a cyclic recurrence of distressing physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms, that occur during the luteal phase of menstrual cycle and evaporates within two days of the onset of menses. PMS may range in its severity from mild (90% of females) to moderate or severe (12.6-31% of females). The last type is called Clinically Significant Premenstrual Syndrome (CSPMS). The emergence of CSPMS during the teen years complicates the process of puberty and assumed to have negative impact on the girl's Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL). This study aimed to compare HRQOL in the girls with and without CSPMS. This was a comparative study which was carried out on 600 female students (300 free from CSPMS and 300 suffer from CSPMS) at Damanhur University, Elbehira governorate, Egypt. A modified version of Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PMSST) for clinicians was used to assess the severity of subject's PMS. Each subject was assigned to either CSPMS free group or CSPMS group based on the severity of their PMS symptoms. Then the HRQOL was assessed in the two groups, using a translated version of RAND36- item Health Survey Questionnaire. The study results indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups in their total quality of life score. The quality of life among the free group was almost equally good or fair while poor quality of life was found among around one tenth (12%) of CSPMS group compared to none among the free group. The largest proportion (86%) among CSPMS group had fair quality of life. The most negatively affected domains were social functioning, role limitations due to physical health, role limitations due to emotional problems, energy/fatigue and emotional well-being respectively. The least affected domains were physical functioning and general health perception. On the other hand, bodily pain wasn't affected at all. The study findings revealed that girls with CSPMS suffer from poorer health-related quality of life than those without CSMPS. Appropriate PMS management strategies should be initiated in order to improve the health related quality of life among girls with CSPMS. The culture of silence surrounding PMS should be broken by focusing on researches that highlight its importance and negative impact on quality of life.

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