The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of perimenstrual symptoms (PMS) in a free-living population of US women and to determine if prevalence estimates varied with parity, contraceptive status, characteristics of the menstrual cycle, and selected demographic variables. We gynecologic and obstetric patients. They found that 92, 91 and 95 per cent, respectively, experienced symptoms.3 Pennington's study of 1,000 women, 95 per cent of whom were high school and college students, found the most prevalent perimenstrual symptoms were dysmenorrhea, irritability, nervousness, back pain, headache, nausea, general aches, and painful breasts.4 Moos reported the prevalence of perimenstrual symptoms in a sample of graduate students' wives.5 When the findings from the US studies are compared, there is a great deal of variability in prevalence estimates, with the prevalence of cramps ranging from 46.6 to 92 per cent, and the prevalence of painful breasts, swelling, and irritability also varying widely. Comparing Moos' findings to results from Western European studies, however, fewer US women report menstrual cramps, backache, nausea, breast symptoms, and irritability than do the Helsinki students studied by Timonen and Procopd,6 but more US student wives report headache, cramps, backache, irritability, depression, and tension than the Edinburgh students studied by Sheldrake and Cormack.7 The prevalence of cramps is greater among the Norwegian women than among US women, but rates of weight gain, headache and depression are lower than for US women, as reported by Bergsjo, et al.8 There are several possible explanations for the differences in prevalence estimates. First, each of these studies employed slightly different symptom scales, and, second,

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of measuring menstrual distress. Seventy-three women, 18 to 35 years of age, selected from lower-middle to upper-middle income neighborhoods kept a daily diary for a two-month period. Following completion of the diary, the women responded to the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) with reference to their last menstrual period. Estimates for all symptoms on the MDQ exceeded those in the diary. The greatest discrepancies between the two methods were found for water retention and negative affect symptoms. Concordance of perimenstrual symptom reporting across the two measures was statistically significant only for menstrual cramps, K = .248, p less than .021, and premenstrual backache, K = .203, p less than .036). Although these results suggest that estimates of dysmenorrhea symptoms are least affected by the data collection method, they are consistent with the hypothesized joint effects of menstrual stereotypes and recall bias on retrospective symptom reports; these sources of bias should be considered in future menstrual, distress research.

Recent research findings contradict the notion that premenstrual and menstrual symptoms constitute two mutually exclusive categories of perimenstrual distress. The purposes of this study were to describe the prevalence of distress associated with menstruation in a community population and to determine whether perimenstrual distress could be regarded as a single construct. Nonpregnant women (N = 193) between 18 and 35 were selected from five neighborhoods in a southeastern city in a way that allowed for variability in race and income. The women were interviewed in their homes and 179 were asked to complete the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ). At least 30% of the women reported weight gain, skin disorders, backache, painful or tender breasts, irritability, depression, headache, cramps, fatigue, swelling, mood swings or tension in the perimenstruum. Cycle phase differences were not found for 31 MDQ symptoms, but were found for: weight gain, crying, lowered school or work performance, taking naps, headache, skin disorders, cramps, anxiety, backache, fatigue, painful or tender breasts, swelling, irritability, mood swings, depression, and tension. Although there were significant differences between the premenstrual and menstrual phases for certain symptoms, the magnitudes of the mean differences were small (less than .3) except for cramps, weight gain, and fatigue. Furthermore, premenstrual and menstrual reports of the same symptoms were highly correlated. Thus, it appears reasonable to study perimenstrual distress as a single construct.