Abstract
Aim: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a very prevalent health problems in women at reproductive age where approximately 80% of them experience these symptoms pre-menstrual at some point in their lifetime. The PMS could have effect on the quality of social and working life, so the aim of this study is evaluation of the prevalence of premenstrual syndrome among female medical students at Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Methods: this is a cross sectional study conducted among final two academic years' undergraduate female medical students at Taibah University using self-administered questionnaire included socio-demographic data, menstrual data, family, medical histories, psychiatric disorders and the Premenstrual Evaluating Questionnaire (PEQ) that included the criteria of the American college of obstetrics & gynecology (ACOG) for the diagnosis of PMS. Results: Prevalence of premenstrual syndrome was 55.1 % of female medical students and the most common degree of PMS was the mild to moderate degree representing 17.3%, and moderate to severe degree representing 14.2%. Mood swings, nervous tension, and irritability were the most frequent symptoms reported by the students representing 93.9%, 76.5%, and 71.4% respectively. The highly significant prevalent symptoms among PMS than the non-PMS group were nervous tension, anxiety, heart pounding, fatigue, depression, and confusion (p<0.000). Conclusion: PMS is prevalent among final two academic years' undergraduate female medical students at Taibah University with mild to moderate degree in severity. Further research with larger sample size of population including non-university populations within Saudi Arabia is recommended. Copyright (C) 2019, Rawan Asaad Alahmadi.