Premenstrual symptoms across the lifespan in an international sample: data from a mobile application
More than 64% of women experience mood swings or anxiety
Summary Premenstrual symptoms, including physical and mood symptoms, affect a large proportion of women around the world. Data on premenstrual symptoms across nations and age groups are limited. In the present study, we took advantage of a large international data set to explore patterns in the frequency of premenstrual symptoms with age. A survey was administered to female users of the Flo mobile application (app), ages 18 to 55. The survey asked app users about a variety of premenstrual symptoms. Respondents were asked whether they experienced each symptom every menstrual cycle, some cycles, or never. Age was also captured and categorized as 18–27, 28–37, 38–47, 48–55. Data were summarized and Pearson’s chi-square test for counting data assessed differences in symptom frequency by age group. A sample of 238,114 app users from 140 countries responded to the survey. The most common symptoms reported were food cravings (85.28%), mood swings or anxiety (64.18%), and fatigue (57.3%). Distractibility, decreased libido, changes in sleep, gastrointestinal symptoms, weight gain, headaches, sweating or hot flashes, fatigue, hair changes, rashes, and swelling They were significantly more frequent with increasing age (p’s < 0.001). Mood swings and anxiety did not vary by age group. Of those surveyed, 28.61% reported that premenstrual symptoms interfered with their daily life in each menstrual cycle. In a large international sample, the majority of women reported premenstrual food cravings, mood swings, and fatigue with each menstrual cycle. Mood symptoms did not vary by age group, suggesting that premenstrual mood swings are a persistent problem among women of reproductive age. |
Frequency of premenstrual symptoms reported by respondents. Numbers reflect participants who reported experiencing the symptom each menstrual cycle
Comments
Premenstrual mood swings and anxiety are so common, experienced by more than 64% of women, that they represent a "key global public health issue," according to a new study from UVA Health.
The UVA Health study found that most women have premenstrual symptoms every menstrual cycle, and those symptoms regularly affect their daily lives. One of the most common symptoms, regardless of age, is mood swings or anxiety, the researchers found. At least 61% of women across all age groups surveyed reported mood-related symptoms in each menstrual cycle, which the researchers say suggests "that premenstrual mood symptoms are a key problem for women." public health worldwide.
“Our study demonstrates that premenstrual mood symptoms are incredibly common around the world,” said Jennifer L. Payne, MD, lead author of the study and director of the Reproductive Psychiatry Research Program at the University School of Medicine. of Virginia. “More importantly, most women reported that their premenstrual symptoms interfered with their daily lives at least some of the time.”
Better understand premenstrual symptoms
To better understand the type of premenstrual symptoms women experience and how those symptoms affect their daily lives, researchers analyzed more than 238,000 survey responses from women ages 18 to 55 from 140 countries on the app Flo , which helps women Track your menstrual cycle or track your mood or physical symptoms during and after pregnancy.
The most common symptoms reported were food cravings, experienced by 85.28% of women surveyed, followed by mood swings or anxiety (64.18%) and fatigue (57.3%), according to researchers at the Faculty of Medicine at UVA, Johns Hopkins University and Flo Health. Among study respondents, 28.61% said their premenstrual symptoms interfered with their daily life during each menstrual cycle, while an additional 34.84% said their premenstrual symptoms sometimes interfered with their daily life.
“The incidence of reported premenstrual mood and anxiety symptoms varied significantly by country, from a low of 35.1% in the Congo to a high of 68.6% in Egypt,” Payne said. "Understanding whether differences in biology or culture underlie country-level rates will be an important future research direction."
One group of symptoms (distractibility, decreased libido, sleep changes, gastrointestinal symptoms, weight gain, headaches, sweating or hot flashes, fatigue, hair changes, rashes, and swelling) was significantly more common among older respondents, the researchers found. The increase in physical symptoms among older respondents "makes sense," the researchers said, since many of these symptoms are associated with perimenopause, a transition period to menopause marked by irregular menstrual cycles.
Payne is hopeful that data from this survey will help women get better care by making health care providers more aware of how often these symptoms occur, especially anxiety and symptoms related to anxiety. mood.
“There are a number of treatment strategies available to treat premenstrual symptoms that interfere with a woman’s daily functioning,” she said. “Increasing awareness of how common these symptoms are and that if they affect functioning, that treatments are available, will help women improve their quality of life.”
