Cohort study, 1990
What PMS symptoms do women experience even when not seeking treatment?
Most women have some premenstrual symptoms. The most common are depressive symptoms (65%), physical discomfort (61.7%), and fluid retention (53.4%). Only 20.3% had no negative symptoms.
What they did
133 women who were not seeking treatment for PMS filled out a 95-item questionnaire about their premenstrual symptoms.
What they found
Only 27 women (20.3%) had no negative symptoms. Most common syndromes were: depressive syndromes in 87 women (65%), general physical discomfort in 82 (61.7%), and fluid retention in 71 (53.4%).
What it means for you
Most women experience some PMS symptoms naturally, so researchers need clearer definitions of what counts as a disorder versus normal menstrual variation. This establishes a baseline for comparison in treatment studies.
133
women studied
20.3%
with no symptoms
65%
with depressive symptoms
About the study
- Original title
- Towards a definition of PMS: a factor analytic evaluation of premenstrual change in non-complaining women
- Authors
- Yuk VJ, Jugdutt AV, Cumming CE et al.
- Journal
- Journal of psychosomatic research
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 133
- What was tested
- None. Observational study using questionnaire.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(90)90067-e
Topics
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