Survey study, 2025
How do social support and physical activity affect PMS?
Women with more social support and those who exercised more had fewer PMS symptoms. Socioeconomic status and age also played a role.
What they did
Researchers conducted a snapshot study of 600 women at health centers in Tehran. They recorded social support, physical activity, socioeconomic status, age, and history of intimate partner violence, then looked at how these related to PMS symptoms.
What they found
Social support directly reduced PMS symptoms (B=-0.29). Physical activity directly reduced PMS symptoms (B=-0.35). Socioeconomic status indirectly reduced PMS (B=-0.22), and younger age was protective (B=0.07). The overall model fit the data well.
What it means for you
Increasing social support and physical activity may help with PMS, and financial stability may also be important. This is an observational study, so we cannot prove these factors cause less PMS. The study was limited to Tehran, so results may not apply elsewhere.
600
women studied
-0.29
social support effect
-0.35
physical activity effect
About the study
- Original title
- A communicative model of premenstrual syndrome with social determinants of health: a path analysis
- Authors
- Vakili F, Nasiri M, Jahanfar S et al.
- Journal
- BMC women's health
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 600
- What was tested
- Social support, physical activity, socioeconomic status
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1186/s12905-025-03745-9
Topics
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