Neelam Banga1, Gagandeep Kaur2, Gunjeet Singh Sandhu3, Sukhwinder Singh4, Avneesh Kumar5
BACKGROUND
Premenstrual symptoms are generally seen 7 - 10 days before the menstruation
period and are collectively called as premenstrual syndrome. Dysmenorrhea is the
most common premenstrual symptom that affects the lifestyle and activity of
young women. This study was aimed at estimating the prevalence of premenstrual
symptoms and its severity in female medical student population of Government
Medical college, Patiala, Punjab.
METHODS
500 female medical students aged between 18 - 28 years were included in the
study. Female students were asked to fill preformed questionnaire to elicit
gynaecological information as well as the 4-point grading scale menstrual distress
questionnaires. Symptoms were divided into two groups: physical symptoms and
behavioural / psychological symptoms.
RESULTS
Only 30.24 % of the students reported one or more symptoms; of these, 22.76 %
were having mild, 5.6 % moderate and 1.87 % severe degree of symptoms. From
physical and behavioural / psychological symptoms, it was noticed that behavioural
/ psychological symptoms predominate. Among physical symptoms, breast
tenderness is experienced most followed by bloating, and weight gain during
premenstrual phase. Among psychological / behavioural symptoms, irritability
predominates followed by restlessness & mood swings.
CONCLUSIONS
Diagnosis is best achieved through daily rating symptoms over at least one
menstrual cycle; clinicians can ask patients to choose their worst symptoms and
chart the severity daily, or can select a validated scale such as the Daily Record of
Severity of Problems. Disappearance of symptoms after menstruation is the key
to diagnosis.
