Abstract
Epidemiological data on premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in Chinese adolescents are limited. This study reported the prevalence and associated factors of PMS in a large sample of Chinese adolescents. A total of 5099 adolescent girls who had menarche participated in the baseline survey of Shandong Adolescent Behavior and Health Cohort study in Shandong, China. A self-administered questionnaire was used to ask about PMS, age at menarche, menstrual cycle interval, menstrual flow length, menstrual regularity, period pain, body weight and height, trait anger, stressful life events, and demographics. The mean age of the sample was 15.19 years (SD = 1.32). The overall prevalence of PMS was 24.6%. The prevalence rates of PMS-anxiety, PMS-water retention, PMS-craving, and PMS-depression were 18.9%, 4.0%, 7.9%, and 11.5%, respectively. The most common symptoms were premenstrual irritability (54%) and fatigue (52.5%). Stepwise logistic regression showed that high levels of life stress (OR 2.26), high levels of trait anger (OR 4.65), alcohol consumption (OR 1.28), menstrual cycle interval ≤ 24 days (OR 1.45), and mild (OR 1.50), moderate (OR 2.57) or severe period pain (OR 4.84) were all significantly associated with increased likelihood of PMS. In conclusion, approximately 1 in 4 Chinese adolescent girls suffered from PMS. Multiple psychosocial and menstrual factors were associated with PMS. Further research is needed to understand developmental changes of PMS and its long-term impacts on psychosocial wellbeing in Chinese adolescent girls.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Lijin County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zoucheng City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Yanggu County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Province, China, and all participating class teachers for their assistance with data collection, and all students for their voluntarily participating in the study. The authors would also like to thank Julie Ingram, MS at Arizona State University for her assistance with proofreading.
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This work was funded in part for data collection by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 81573233).
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XL conceptualized the study, performed data analysis, and drafted the manuscript. Z-ZL participated in the study design, collected data, managed data, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. YY contributed to the study design and data analysis and reviewed and revised the manuscript. C-XJ contributed to the study design, supervised data collection and data management, and reviewed and revised the manuscript.
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Liu, X., Liu, ZZ., Yang, Y. et al. Prevalence and Associated Factors of Premenstrual Syndrome in Chinese Adolescent Girls. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01624-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01624-8