Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a disorder of the women’s menstrual cycle made up of a series of physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms that affects “to a greater or lesser extent” 73.6% of women, according to the results of the first study. Prevalence registry carried out in Spain.
The Daphne team, made up of a group of experts in Gynecology, assure that there have been references to this condition for more than 2,500 years but, despite this, there is no universally accepted definition of this problem, nor is the scope of its symptoms known.
From a scientific point of view, the international classification of diseases includes it in the category of gynecological disorders in its mild form and, in its more severe form, called premenstrual dysphoric syndrome (PMDS), within psychological diseases, but there are no criteria globally accepted diagnoses and in general the description of the symptoms is not very specific.
More than 70% of women suffer from PMS symptoms
- Faced with this situation, the Daphne team considered carrying out the first study to find out the real impact of this syndrome using Steiner’s measurement criteria (Premenstrual symptoms screening tool – PSST) as a basis and giving rise to the first significant and statistically representative record. of the Spanish population. The sample collects data from 2,108 women of childbearing age and the results have been published in the scientific journal The European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
- According to this study, the associated symptoms affect to a greater or lesser extent 73.72% of women and, of these, 9 % suffer what is called moderate or severe PMS, due to its significant impact on the daily life of women.
- He1.5% of these women also met the criteria to be classified as having premenstrual dysphoric syndrome (PMDD), which is the one that has the greatest impact on women’s health and quality of life.
- In both cases, the symptoms have an average duration of about three days a month and the respondents acknowledge that it affects their family relationships in 7.1% of cases, their social life in 5.6%, and entails a loss interest in work in 6% of cases.
Around 80 symptoms describe PMS
- Of the nearly 80 symptoms (40 physical and 40 psychological) described in the PMS, the most frequent ones collected in the study were physical symptoms (81.6%): breast, muscle, headaches, weight gain and water retention.
- These are followed by irritability (58%), lack of energy (53%), desire to cry (48.7%) and anxiety (40.5%). The self-assessment of the severity of each of the symptoms was mild to moderate in more than 80% of the women, and severe in 10% of the cases.
- Despite this impact on the social and personal life of women, these symptoms are generally assumed to be normal. In fact, even in the most severe forms of the pathology, up to 75% of women do not consult their doctor because they consider that it is normal, intimate or because they did not think that it could be solved.
- Of those who attend, according to the survey, the most widely used treatments to alleviate these symptoms are hormonal contraceptives in 57% of cases, followed by analgesics in 53.3% and home or natural remedies in 4.1% of cases. the cases.
