Prevalence of premenstrual symptoms and premenstrual dysphoric disorder among adolescents students of Zahedan

It is believed that adolescents suffer from dysmenorrhea but premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is not a common and prevalent disorder. Recently, some studies indicated that PMS and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) were common problems among students and prevalence of premenstrual symptoms reported differently due to socio-cultural characteristics. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of PMS and PMDD in a group of Iranian adolescent students.

In this descriptive study, 142 students (aged 14-18years) from high schools of Zahedan (southeast of Iran) were selected and asked to complete the PMS questionnaire, including symptoms of PMS and demographic characteristics.

The findings of current study showed that 142 participants 83.1% (n=118) of them had PMS and about 57.7% (n=82) met the criteria for DSM-IV for MDD. Also, 28.2% of participants with PMS and 26.8% of those with PMDD reported that severity of symptoms interfered with their function and adjustment. Most common symptoms were breast pain (100%), gastric pain (53.5%), tiredness or lethargic (51.4%), backache (47.2%) and joint or muscle pain (38.7%). Mean of severity of symptoms was higher in students aged 16 (p=0.05).

The prevalence of PMS and PMDD were common among the adolescents, thus systematic and well designed programs and interventions for prevention and management of PMS was highly recommended.