Prevalene of perimenstrual symptoms.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of perimenstrual symptoms (PMS) in a free-living population of US women and to determine if prevalence estimates varied with parity, contraceptive status, characteristics of the menstrual cycle, and selected demographic variables. We identified all households from a census listing for five southeastern city neighborhoods that offered variation in racial composition and socioeconomic status. We ascertained all households in which there was one nonpregnant woman between the ages of 18 and 35 years per household. Of the 241 eligible women, 179 (74 per cent) participated in the study. Trained interviewers administered the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) and other demographic measures to women between March and July 1979. Symptoms with a prevalence greater than 30 per cent included weight gain, headache, skin disorders, cramps, anxiety, backache, fatigue, painful breasts, irritability, mood swings, depression, or tension. Only 2 to 8 per cent of women found most of these severe or disabling. The exceptions were severe cramps reported by 17 per cent of women and severe premenstrual and menstrual irritability by 12 per cent. Cramps, backaches, fatigue, and tension were most prevalent during the menstruum; weight gain, skin disorders, painful breasts, swelling, irritability, mood swings, and depression were more prevalent in the premenstruum. Parity, oral contraceptive use, age, employment, education, and income were negatively associated with selected PMS. Use of an IUD, having long menstrual cycles, long menstrual flow, or heavy menstrual flow, and being able to predict the next period were positively associated with selected PMS. Race had both positive and negative effects on PMS.

Toward a construct of perimenstrual distress.

Recent research findings contradict the notion that premenstrual and menstrual symptoms constitute two mutually exclusive categories of perimenstrual distress. The purposes of this study were to describe the prevalence of distress associated with menstruation in a community population and to determine whether perimenstrual distress could be regarded as a single construct. Nonpregnant women (N = 193) between 18 and 35 were selected from five neighborhoods in a southeastern city in a way that allowed for variability in race and income. The women were interviewed in their homes and 179 were asked to complete the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ). At least 30% of the women reported weight gain, skin disorders, backache, painful or tender breasts, irritability, depression, headache, cramps, fatigue, swelling, mood swings or tension in the perimenstruum. Cycle phase differences were not found for 31 MDQ symptoms, but were found for: weight gain, crying, lowered school or work performance, taking naps, headache, skin disorders, cramps, anxiety, backache, fatigue, painful or tender breasts, swelling, irritability, mood swings, depression, and tension. Although there were significant differences between the premenstrual and menstrual phases for certain symptoms, the magnitudes of the mean differences were small (less than .3) except for cramps, weight gain, and fatigue. Furthermore, premenstrual and menstrual reports of the same symptoms were highly correlated. Thus, it appears reasonable to study perimenstrual distress as a single construct.

Recollections of menarche, current menstrual attitudes, and perimenstrual symptoms.

By menarche, girls are likely to have been influenced not only by cultural stereotypes about menstruation, but also by information acquired through significant others. Their own expectations about menstruation are likely to influence their reports of menarcheal experience. Moreover, some suggest that menarcheal experiences are likely to influence subsequent attitudes toward menstruation, and that these expectations may, in turn, influence perceptions of menstrual symptoms through psychophysiologic mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between characteristics of women's menarche, their adult attitudes toward menstruation, and current experiences of perimenstrual symptoms. We selected 179 nonpregnant menstruating women between the ages of 18 and 35 from 5 lower to upper middle income neighborhoods. We found that negative recollections of their first menstruation had little effect on current menstrual attitudes. Moreover, positive recollections of menarche were associated with premenstrual and menstrual negative affect and impaired performance, and not in the expected direction. Current menstrual attitudes were more strongly associated with women's current menstrual symptoms. These results do not support the theory that menarcheal experiences have profound effects on subsequent menstrual attitudes and symptoms.

Estimating perimenstrual distress: a comparison of two methods.

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of measuring menstrual distress. Seventy-three women, 18 to 35 years of age, selected from lower-middle to upper-middle income neighborhoods kept a daily diary for a two-month period. Following completion of the diary, the women responded to the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) with reference to their last menstrual period. Estimates for all symptoms on the MDQ exceeded those in the diary. The greatest discrepancies between the two methods were found for water retention and negative affect symptoms. Concordance of perimenstrual symptom reporting across the two measures was statistically significant only for menstrual cramps, K = .248, p less than .021, and premenstrual backache, K = .203, p less than .036). Although these results suggest that estimates of dysmenorrhea symptoms are least affected by the data collection method, they are consistent with the hypothesized joint effects of menstrual stereotypes and recall bias on retrospective symptom reports; these sources of bias should be considered in future menstrual, distress research.

Stressful life events and perimenstrual symptoms.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the effects of stressful life events on perimenstrual symptoms were due to operational confounding of the instruments used to measure the independent and dependent variables. Women aged 18 to 35 (n = 179) completed the Schedule of Recent Events (SRE) and the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire during a home interview. When variance in PMS scores attributable to age, parity, education, and contraceptive method was controlled using hierarchical multiple regression, total SRE scores were correlated with premenstrual and menstrual negative affect, menstrual water retention, and menstrual performance impairment. When health-related components of the SRE score were controlled in a similar manner, however, the residual SRE scores explain a diminished amount of the variance in premenstrual and menstrual negative affect and menstrual performance impairment. Future investigations are needed to clarify whether the effects of health-related life events on perimenstrual symptoms are simply a matter of operational confounding of measures of the independent and dependent variables, or whether women who recently have experienced personal illness or injury are at greater risk of developing perimenstrual symptoms.