Premenstrual Syndromes of Mature Women in Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine premenstrual symptoms in Japanese women who are developmentally mature. One hundred forty one women aged 25 to 45 were asked to fill in the PMS Memory, a prospective rating menstrual diary, for three menstrual cycles, and 388 menstrual cycles were collected in all. Symptoms were scored and the accumulative-sum-total of the frequency and seriousness of each of the physical, mental and social symptoms was calculated. The result showed that the main premenstrual symptoms were irritability, getting angry easily and breast swelling. Differences in chronological age, having given birth or not, and type of occupation showed significant differences in some symptoms. When the transition of each symptom from the pre-menstrual to menstrual phase was examined, the results showed that 15 symptoms were characterized as pre-menstrual syndromes (PMS) and 12 symptoms were peri-menstrual (PEMS). The results also showed that the symptoms of PMS showed at the brain level as irritability and getting angry easily, and ovarian hormone level as breast swelling. The symptoms of PEMS appeared at the uterine level as abdominal cramps. Finally, the premenstrual symptoms of Japanese mature women were classified as PMS and PEMS by characterized clinical figures.