Survey study, 2014
Can a simple questionnaire help doctors identify women with PMDD or PMS?
Yes. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) effectively distinguishes between women with PMDD, women with PMS, and women with minimal symptoms.
What they did
118 menstruating women aged 18-49 working at a hospital in Turkey filled out the PSST questionnaire and another general symptom checklist. Researchers grouped them into three categories based on PSST scores: subthreshold (minimal) symptoms, PMDD (severe), and PMS (moderate).
What they found
15.2% of women (18 out of 118) were identified as having PMDD. 32.2% (38 out of 118) were identified as having PMS. The tool had excellent internal consistency. The three groups showed significantly different symptom patterns. Women with PMDD reported moderate to severe symptoms on the four core PMDD symptoms significantly more often than the other groups.
What it means for you
This questionnaire tool works well for identifying women who need help for PMDD or moderate to severe PMS versus those with minimal symptoms. In this Turkish hospital population, about half of all women had significant premenstrual symptoms. The limitation is that the tool was tested in one hospital setting, so it may perform differently in other groups.
118
Women in the study
15.2%
Identified as having PMDD
32.2%
Identified as having PMS
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual Symptom Screening Tool: A Useful Tool for DSM-5 Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
- Authors
- Kadir Özdel, Ayşegül Kervancioğlu, İbrahim Taymur et al.
- Journal
- The Annals of Clinical and Analytical Medicine
- Year
- 2014
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 38
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.4328/jcam.2314
Topics
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