---
title: How common are symptoms linked to the menstrual cycle? | Niyora
description: At least 40% of women experience some symptoms tied to their menstrual cycle. Only 2% to 10% report severe symptoms. When women remember their symptoms later,
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/perimenstrual-symptoms-prevalence-and-risk-factors-1986/
---

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- How common are symptoms linked to the menstrual cycle?

Cohort study, 1986

# How common are symptoms linked to the menstrual cycle?

At least 40% of women experience some symptoms tied to their menstrual cycle. Only 2% to 10% report severe symptoms. When women remember their symptoms later, they may report more variation than they reported as it was happening.

 Early or limited evidence

Research published on women with menstrual cycle-related symptoms

## What they did

Review of published research on how common menstrual cycle-related symptoms are, comparing what women remember later with what they reported as it happened.

## What they found

At least 40% of women experience cyclical symptoms. Most rate them as mild. About 2% to 10% report severe symptoms. Women with moderate to severe symptoms accurately remember them. Women with few or minimal symptoms tend to report more variation in their memory than in real-time reports.

## What it means for you

Cyclical symptoms are common but women's memories may be shaped by expectations rather than actual day-to-day experience. This is a review of existing studies, not new data collection.

40%

Minimum percentage with cyclical symptoms

2-10%

Percentage reporting severe symptoms

## About the study

Original title Perimenstrual symptoms: prevalence and risk factors Authors Logue CM, Moos RH Journal Psychosomatic medicine Year 1986 Study design Cohort study What was tested None Read the paper [doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198607000-00002](https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198607000-00002)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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