--- title: How common are PMS and PMDD, and how much do they disrupt women's lives? description: PMS causes distress in up to 20% of women and severe work or relationship problems in 3-8%. Women with PMDD experience about 3000 days of severe symptoms over url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/premenstrual-syndrome-and-premenstrual-dysphoric-disorder-quality-of-life-and-2009/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - How common are PMS and PMDD, and how much do they disrupt women's lives? Review, 2009 # How common are PMS and PMDD, and how much do they disrupt women's lives? PMS causes distress in up to 20% of women and severe work or relationship problems in 3-8%. Women with PMDD experience about 3000 days of severe symptoms over their reproductive years. Early or limited evidence Women of reproductive age with PMS and PMDD ## What they did This review examined how common PMS and PMDD are, what symptoms occur, how much they disrupt daily life and work, and treatment outcomes. ## What they found Premenstrual symptoms distress up to 20% of women; 3-8% have work or relationship impairment. Typical symptoms are irritability, anger, mood swings, depression, anxiety, bloating, breast pain, and fatigue, recurring for an average of 6 days monthly. For women with PMDD, symptoms can be as disabling as major depression and total nearly 3000 days during reproductive years. Effective treatments were unavailable until about two decades before this review. ## What it means for you PMS and PMDD are common and seriously disrupt many women's lives and work. Many women still do not receive help despite available treatments. The main limitation is this is a review summarizing existing data. 20% women with distressing premenstrual symptoms 3-8% women with work or relationship impairment 6 days average symptom duration per month ## About the study Original title Premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder: quality of life and burden of illness Authors Rapkin AJ, Winer SA Journal Expert review of pharmacoeconomics & outcomes research Year 2009 Study design Review Read the paper [doi.org/10.1586/erp.09.14](https://doi.org/10.1586/erp.09.14) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pmdd/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/)[Bloating, breast tenderness and physical symptoms](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-physical-symptoms/)[Major depressive disorder](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-major-depression/)[Work and productivity](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-work/)[Quality of life and daily functioning](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-quality-of-life/) 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. ## Related studies Study, 2026 What are premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder? Survey study, 2001 How common is premenstrual dysphoric disorder and how is it related to other psychiatric conditions? Non-randomised trial, 2008 Can the Sheehan Disability Scale measure whether treatments work? Randomised trial, 1997 Does sertraline reduce PMDD symptoms and improve women's ability to function? Survey study, 2025 How common is PMDD in Brazilian women and what are the most frequent symptoms? Cohort study, 2022 What are PMS and PMDD and how should they be diagnosed and treated? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗