The Incidence and the Contributing factors of premenstrual syndrome in health working women

Aim: To report the incidence of premenstrual syndrome in working women and the association of premenstrual syndrome with social and demographical factors, menstrual cycle, and nutritional status. The second aim of this study is to investigate the influence of premenstrual syndrome on working performance. Finally, to contribute to decrease the waste of labor time and unnecessary drugs usage caused by premenstrual syndrome. Material & Methods: Totally 254 women aged between 19-49 years old who work in Dicle University Faculty of Medicine Hospital were enrolled for this prospective study. Data were obtained by face to face interview questionnaires. Results: The incidence of premenstrual syndrome was 20.1%. The 91.7% of women had experienced mild or moderate symptoms in premenstrual period. The most common complains were pelvic pain, tension or restlessness, irritability or agitation, abdominal bloating and breast tenderness. Furthermore, in the presence of following factors; women with young ages (< 30), married women without having a child, married women with having one child, occupation (especially for nurse), aggressive behavioral personality, the incidences of premenstrual syndrome were higher than those in counter part groups without reaching statistically significant values. In addition, although the incidence premenstrual syndrome tended to increase by consuming tea, coffee, carbonated drinks and high carbohydrate foods, exercise decreased the incidence without reaching statistically significant values. The association of age of menarche, women with regular menstrual cycle or dysmenorrhea, or family history and premenstrual syndrome was indicated, however the number of cigarettes smoked in a day was positively correlated with incidence (p<0.05). In addition, the 70.3% of symptomatic women expressed impaired working performance. Conclusion: The incidence of premenstrual syndrome is higher in working women and this condition may affect the whole population. In order to decrease the incidence of premenstrual syndrome and to increase the life quality of women; more attention should be paid to this condition and proper precautions should be taken.