Cohort study, 2024
Which premenstrual symptoms are reliable for diagnosing PMS?
None of the symptoms studied were both sensitive and specific enough to reliably diagnose PMS on their own. Some symptoms like diarrhea were very specific but rarely detected PMS, while others like body discomfort were sensitive but not specific.
What they did
Researchers followed 250 college women aged 18-25 across their menstrual cycles from December 2014 to June 2015, tracking their symptoms using a self-reporting questionnaire. They calculated sensitivity and specificity for each symptom to see how well it identified PMS.
What they found
Some physical and psychological symptoms were associated with PMS. General body discomfort had the highest sensitivity at 29.8 percent, while diarrhea or constipation had the lowest at 2.4 percent. Diarrhea or constipation had the highest specificity at 96.8 percent, while swollen extremities had the lowest at 82.4 percent. No single symptom combined high sensitivity with high specificity.
What it means for you
Diarrhea is very specific for PMS but misses many cases. Body discomfort catches more cases but is less specific. This suggests PMS diagnosis needs multiple symptoms together. The study was limited to college students over a short period.
29.8%
highest sensitivity (general body discomfort)
96.8%
highest specificity (diarrhea or constipation)
2.4%
lowest sensitivity (diarrhea or constipation)
About the study
- Original title
- Association of Premenstrual Symptoms with Premenstrual Syndrome
- Authors
- Deepika Badkur, Arun Wanjpe
- Journal
- Journal of Primary Care Specialties
- Year
- 2024
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.4103/jopcs.jopcs_27_23
Topics
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