Systematic review, 2026
What does recent research show about PMS treatment?
PMS is very common, affecting 43 to 82.9 percent of women. Education, relaxation exercises, yoga, and physical therapies help reduce symptoms.
What they did
Systematic review of 48 nursing graduate theses from Turkey (40 master's theses and 8 doctoral theses) conducted between 2007 and 2025, examining studies about PMS.
What they found
PMS prevalence ranged from 43 percent to 82.9 percent. The most common symptoms were depressive mood, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, pain, appetite changes, and sleep changes. Effective interventions included web-based education, foot baths, laughter yoga, kinesio taping, and progressive relaxation exercises. Most master's theses (87.5 percent) were descriptive studies, while most doctoral theses (87.5 percent) were experimental.
What it means for you
PMS is extremely common in women of reproductive age, and education combined with coping strategies like relaxation and exercise can help. The main limitations are that these are only Turkish studies, sample sizes varied widely, and most were observational rather than rigorous experimental trials.
48
Theses reviewed
43-82.9%
Prevalence of PMS across the studies
20-1,552
Sample size range
About the study
- Original title
- A Systematic Review of Nursing Graduate Theses on Premenstrual Syndrome and Premenstrual Symptoms in Türkiye
- Authors
- Hacer Ataman, Merve Tuncer
- Journal
- Acibadem Universitesi Saglik Bilimleri Dergisi
- Year
- 2026
- Study design
- Systematic review
- What was tested
- Web-based education, foot baths, laughter yoga, kinesio taping, and progressive relaxation exercises for PMS symptom reduction.
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.31067/acusaglik.1788330
Topics
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