Quality of Life Among Girls with or Without Clinically Significant Premenstrual Syndrome

Wafaa T Elgzar

doi:10.11648/j.ajns.20170602.13

Abstract

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most vague and ill-defined phenomena in the field of woman health. Almost all its definitions concluded that it is a cyclic recurrence of distressing physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms, that occur during the luteal phase of menstrual cycle and evaporates within two days of the onset of menses. PMS may range in its severity from mild (90% of females) to moderate or severe (12.6-31% of females). The last type is called Clinically Significant Premenstrual Syndrome (CSPMS). The emergence of CSPMS during the teen years complicates the process of puberty and assumed to have negative impact on the girl's Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL). This study aimed to compare HRQOL in the girls with and without CSPMS. This was a comparative study which was carried out on 600 female students (300 free from CSPMS and 300 suffer from CSPMS) at Damanhur University, Elbehira governorate, Egypt. A modified version of Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PMSST) for clinicians was used to assess the severity of subject's PMS. Each subject was assigned to either CSPMS free group or CSPMS group based on the severity of their PMS symptoms. Then the HRQOL was assessed in the two groups, using a translated version of RAND36- item Health Survey Questionnaire. The study results indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups in their total quality of life score. The quality of life among the free group was almost equally good or fair while poor quality of life was found among around one tenth (12%) of CSPMS group compared to none among the free group. The largest proportion (86%) among CSPMS group had fair quality of life. The most negatively affected domains were social functioning, role limitations due to physical health, role limitations due to emotional problems, energy/fatigue and emotional well-being respectively. The least affected domains were physical functioning and general health perception. On the other hand, bodily pain wasn't affected at all. The study findings revealed that girls with CSPMS suffer from poorer health-related quality of life than those without CSMPS. Appropriate PMS management strategies should be initiated in order to improve the health related quality of life among girls with CSPMS. The culture of silence surrounding PMS should be broken by focusing on researches that highlight its importance and negative impact on quality of life.

Highlights

Premenstrual syndrome [PMS] is one of the most common silent females' complains during their reproductive age
Significant premenstrual syndrome (CSPMS): those who have moderate or severe premenstrual symptoms according to the premenstrual symptoms screening tool for clinical (PMSST). [13]
The female students was chosen based on the following inclusion criteria: i Had regular menstruation [22-35 days] during the last months. ii Free from any medical diseases as well as any pelvic disorders. iii Willing to participate in the study. iv Unmarried From the selected students Clinically Significant PMS (CSPMS) [moderate and severe] suffers were assigned to CSPMS group and the free girls and girls with mild PMS were assigned to the other group

Summary

Introduction

Premenstrual syndrome [PMS] is one of the most common silent females' complains during their reproductive age. Surveys indicate that PMS is among the most common health problems reported by reproductive age females where up to 90% of females had reported negative symptomatology during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycles. CSPMS refers to PMS symptoms that are severe enough to interfere with the normal daily life activities. The very severe form of PMS called premenstrual dystrophic disorder [PMDD] which is a psychiatric disorder that requires psychiatric intervention and hospitalization. There are more than two hundred PMS reported symptoms which are classified as: physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms. The common PMS behavioral symptoms are: social withdrawal, food craving, sleep disturbances and outburst of anger toward self and others. The common PMS behavioral symptoms are: social withdrawal, food craving, sleep disturbances and outburst of anger toward self and others. [1], [4]

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