Factors Affecting the Severity of Premenstrual Syndrome Symptoms among Females with Premenstrual Syndrome in Family Medicine Outpatient Clinics

Objectives: To detect possible factors which affect the severity of the Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) symptoms. Subjects and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study design was applied on 106 females suffering from PMS as defined by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) criteria for PMS. A questionnaire was designed by the researchers and included socio-demographic data, menstrual history, dietary and exercise history. In addition, the modified premenstrual syndrome questionnaire was used to assess the severity of the different PMS symptoms. Results: The study included 106 females. The females ages ranged between 16 and 45 years with a mean age of 31.3 ±8.3 years. A statistically significant relation was found between the severity of the PMS symptoms and the age of females, the number of menstruating days/cycle, the number of menstruating years, the marital status, the presence of female family members with PMS, the number of daily meals, the number of daily cups of water and the number of daily servings from the bread and cereals group. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it was found that there were significant correlations between the severity of the different PMS symptom groups and various factors including dietary factors thus, it is imperative to encourage females early in their lives to adopt a healthy life style, which includes an appropriate healthy diet.