Korean J Obstet Gynecol.
2005 Feb;48(2):401-410.
A survey on premenstrual syndrome
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Korea. blasto@snubh.org
- 2Institute of Reproductive Medicine and Population, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University, Korea.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the epidemiology of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and actual status of women with PMS seeking a medical advice.
METHODS
The survey included a total of two hundred healthy women visited to Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (n=78) or working at the same hospital (n=122) in reproductive age during March to June 2004. The subjects were asked to fill-up PMS sheet developed by our Department as giudance by one interviewer. Diagnosis to PMS was made by DSM-IV algorithms.
RESULTS
PMS was noted in 8%. The major five symptoms were low abdominal discomfort or pain, easy fatigability, breast tenderness, and irritability. The following factors were not different statistically between PMS and non-PMS group; mean age, dysmenorrhea, menstrual cycle characteristics, occupation, education, marrital status, smoking or alcohol habit. In PMS group, 7 women out of 16 had a need for treatment (43.8%), in contrast, a few women had seeked a medical advice (12.5%). Moreover, a few women had experienced prescribing medications (12.5%) or non-prescribing medications (12.5%). In non-PMS group, the corresponding figures were 11.4%, 4.9%, 2.7% and 20.1%.
CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that women diagnosed as PMS seldom seek a medical advice. The women with various premenstrual complaints commonly use non-prescribing medications.