Frequency and Severity of Premenstrual Syndrome among Undergraduate Medical Students

Objective: To find out the frequency and to assess the degree of severity of premenstrual syndrome among undergraduate medical students Methods:Methods: It is a Cross-Sectional Study conducted in 161 female Students of Allama Iqbal Medical College of 1st year to final year who voluntarily consented for participation. PMS and its severity was diagnosed on the basis of a modified DRSP scale: mild if the score is 50-85, moderate if the score is 86120 and severe if the score is >120. Females having irregular periods or any organic pathology and those using hormonal contraception or any medication were excluded.Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23. Frequency, percentage charting was expressed for variables like presence of PMS and severity of PMS. Quantitative variables like age and BMI were expressed by Mean±S.D. Data was stratified for age, BMI, year of study, living status and marital status to deal with effect modifiers. Test of significance was applied i.e chisquare. A p-value ≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Subjects ranged between 18-25 years with mean age of 19.9±2.1 years. Majority of the students were between 18-20 years. Mean BMI was 19.9±1.9 kg/m2. Mean year of study was 2.4±1.3 year. Out of 161 subjects, 53 (32.9%) were living with parents while remaining 108 (67.1%) were far from parents. Married students were 10 (6.2%). Premenstrual syndrome was found to be in 31 females (19.2%), mild 4.3%, moderate 8.1% and severe 6.8%,and severity was more in 4-5 years students, p-value was found significant with variable years of study (p-value= 0.095). Conclusion: PMS was found in 19.2% of undergraduate medical students. Early recognition and timely management can improve the quality of performance among undergraduates.