Survey study, 2025
Does severe PMS cause women to miss work or perform worse at their jobs?
Yes. Women with moderate to severe PMS miss more work and perform worse than those with mild symptoms, even accounting for age and job type.
What they did
Surveyed 2,987 working women across Japan about PMS severity and how much it affected work attendance and job performance.
What they found
Women with moderate to severe PMS had a two-fold risk of missing work compared to those with mild PMS. They were 18-30% less productive. Two-thirds of women with severe PMS reported at least 30% reduction in work performance without missing work.
What it means for you
Severe PMS has a large impact on work, especially through reduced performance rather than absences. However, the study is observational so we cannot prove PMS causes work loss, and results apply only to Japan.
2,987
working women surveyed
two-fold
higher risk of missing work with moderate-to-severe PMS
18-30%
reduction in work performance with moderate-to-severe PMS
About the study
- Original title
- Association of severity of premenstrual disorders with absenteeism and presenteeism among Japanese working women: a cross-sectional study
- Authors
- Iida M, Namba M, Nomura K
- Journal
- Industrial health
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 2,987
- What was tested
- Premenstrual disorder severity
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2025-0016
Topics
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