AbstractIntroduction: Premenstrual syndrome is very common in women of the
reproductive age group and it significantly impairs their routine activities. In addition, it has been noticed that in recent years there is an early development of puberty and age at menarche is declining in children. Thus, we plannedto conduct this study to assess the prevalence of premenstrual psychologicalsymptoms and to determine its association with age at menarche in young females. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted after the approval of the Institutional ethics committee. One hundred and fifty health science students aged between 18 - 25 years with a normal menstrual
cycle duration of 28+/- 7 days were selected as study groups by pretested and validated questionnaire on premenstrual symptoms. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS for Windows, IBM SPSS Statistics 23 version.
Results and Conclusions: The mean age of menarche of the study participants was 13 years. We found 91% had Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) among that 74 % reported at least one psychological symptom. The most common symptomsexperienced by them were altered sleep patterns (48%) followed by irritability(45%), mood swings (37%) and depression (35%). We also found that thenumber of premenstrual psychological symptoms had a significant negative correlation with age at menarche. The findings of this study highlight the high
prevalence of Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and the effect of early onset of menarche on psychological symptoms during the menstrual cycle. This study also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, average body weight and to incorporate adequate physical activities in childhood.
Keywords: Menstrual cycle; Menarche; Premenstrual syndrome;
Psychological symptoms.