Does PMS affect how well female soccer players perform?

This study’s objective was to verify the association between Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and perceived impact on sport performance from Brazilian indoor soccer athletes. A total of 112 athletes were enrolled, with ages varying from 18 to 31years old, and who participated in the Brazilian Clubs Cup in 2007. The instruments used were: a self-reported sheet based on criteria from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist (2000) for the diagnosis of PMS and a sport performance impact perception sheet, organized in a Likert scale with values ranging from 0 (“not affected”) to 3 (“extremely affected”). Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test, Pearson’s chi-square and Poisson regression with robust variance. The prevalence of PMS was 47.32% and the perceived impact on sport performance for those with PMSwas RP 1.71 (95%CI 1.23 to 2.38). The symptoms associated with sport performance impact were depression, irritability, breast tenderness, difficulty concentrating, back pain and tiredness. The intensity with which the athletes with PMS feel their performance affected during the premenstrual phase was significant in the “lowly affected “(RP 2.1 95%CI 1.26 to 3.55) and “extremely affected” (RP 3.5 95%CI 2.23 to 5.62) categories. Athletes with 6 to 9 symptoms presented higher risk (RP 3.20 95%CI 1.53 to 6.71) than athletes with 4 to 5 symptoms (RP 2.82 95%CI 1.32 to 6.05) or with 2 to 3 symptoms (RP 2.57 95%CI 1.25 to 5.30). In conclusion, the presence of PMS, the number and the kind of symptoms all exhibited associations with the sport performance impact perceived by Brazilian indoor soccer athletes.

Reproduced under CC-BY.