Survey study, 2009
What are the most common premenstrual symptoms and how severe are they?
The most common symptoms are bloating, cramps, breast tenderness, irritability, and mood swings. Symptoms varied widely: 40.8% of women had mild symptoms, 28.7% had moderate mental symptoms, 21.9% had moderate physical symptoms, and 8.6% had severe symptoms.
What they did
Researchers randomly called 4,085 women aged 14-49 in eight countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, and Mexico). Over the phone, each woman was asked about 23 different premenstrual symptoms.
What they found
The most frequent symptoms were abdominal bloating, cramps or abdominal pain, breast tenderness, irritability, and mood swings. The severity of symptoms was directly linked to how long they lasted. Women could be grouped into four types: 40.8% mild, 28.7% moderate with mostly mental symptoms, 21.9% moderate with mostly physical symptoms, and 8.6% with severe symptoms of both kinds.
What it means for you
Premenstrual symptoms are very common and range from mild to severe. How long symptoms last is strongly linked to how bad they are. The main limit: this captured what women reported at one point in time rather than tracking symptoms day by day, and symptom patterns may differ by country.
4,085
women surveyed across 8 countries
40.8%
women with mild symptoms
8.6%
women with severe symptoms
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual symptoms -- severity, duration and typology: an international cross-sectional study
- Authors
- Dennerstein L, Lehert P, Bäckström TC et al.
- Journal
- Menopause international
- Year
- 2009
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 4,085
- What was tested
- None - descriptive symptom survey
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1258/mi.2009.009030
Topics
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