Prevalence of premenstrual syndrome and its relationship with blood pressure in young adult females.

Premenstrual syndrome is a collection of symptoms which women experience 1 to 2 weeks before menstruation which clear with onset of menstrual flow and capable of interfering with life functions. An association between Premenstrual syndrome and hypertension has been suggested leading to the suspicion that it may be one precussor trait of hypertension in the normal population. Since people who develop hypertension later in life start from the higher range of normal earlier on, we sought to find if premenstrual syndrome had any bearing on hypertension. Consenting female subjects in three institutions in Jos, Nigeria were studied. Self-administered questionnaires designed to diagnose premenstrual syndrome and anxio-depressive status were used. Medical, family and menstrual history, as well as height, weight, pulse and blood pressures were documented; and data analysed. Four hundred and fourty seven subjects aged between 17 and 38 years with a mean of 23.6 + 3.9 were studied. Sixty one percent of them satisfied the criteria for diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome. When the data for those in luteal phase was split into the early (1st) and late (2nd) parts, there was a statistically significant rise in systolic and diastolic blood pressure from 1st to 2nd parts only for those with premenstrual syndrome (SBP 107.3 + 11.05 to 111.39 + 13.48 mm Hg. p=0.05 and DBP 65.06 + 10.38 to 70.69 + 10.03. p=0.004). Those with premenstrual syndrome also had higher anxiety and depression scores (chi-square 47.9 and 28.4 respectively). The symptoms of premenstrual syndrome peak in the 2nd part of the luteal phase. They are associated with a lot of stress. Since blood pressure elevation with this change was significantly higher among subjects with premenstrual syndrome, it is felt that premenstrual syndrome may predict future hypertension among currently normotensive females.