Volume 18, Issue 56 (9-2006)
Abstract
Premenstrual syndrome is a common cyclic problem among the young and middle -aged women which occurs in the luteal phase of the mestrual cycle. It is characterized by a combination of distressing physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms. The prevalence and frequency of syndrome (PMS) was assessed in all students living in an undergraduate female dormitory of Teacher Training University. The results of this study showed that among 326 nuliparous students, 98.2% of them regularly experienced symptoms consistent with PMS. The 4 most common symptoms were abdominal pain, backache, depression and anger. In this study the most disagreeable symptoms were abdominal ache (29.1%), backache (21.6%), anger(9.7%) , anxiety( 9%), and social withdrawal (8/80%) . There was an association between the city of origin and some of the symptoms such as: depression and acne in north of Iran and abdominal ache and back pain in east of Iran. About 43% of students had familial history of PMS and 51% of them took drug for decreasing their symptoms. A severe form of Premenstrual syndrome is premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which its prevalence among the university students was 16.9% .
