Department of Environmental Health Science and Public Health, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita, Japan.
Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 15, Nishi 7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan.
BMC Womens Health. 2024 Apr 15;24(1):242. doi: 10.1186/s12905-024-03067-2.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is prevalent among women of reproductive age, but most do not seek medical advice. We hypothesized that building PMS awareness could promote medical help-seeking for PMS and thus reduce menstrual symptoms and improve work productivity.
In January 2020, women aged between 25 and 44 years, having paid work, and not currently consulting with an obstetrics and gynecology doctor (n = 3090) responded to the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ), the Premenstrual Symptoms screening tool, and the World Health Organisation Health and Work Performance Questionnaire. In addition, they received checklist-based online education for PMS. Of 3090 participants, 2487 (80.5%) participated in a follow-up survey in September 2020. We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses and text analyses to explore factors that encouraged and discouraged medical help-seeking. We also evaluated changes in menstrual symptoms and work productivity, using generalized estimating equations with interactions between the severity of PMS, help-seeking, and time.
During the follow-up period, 4.9% of the participants (121/2487) sought medical help. Those having high annual income (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21-3.53) and moderate-to-severe PMS (aOR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.49-3.46) were more likely to have sought medical help. Those who did not seek medical help despite their moderate-to-severe PMS reported normalization of their symptoms (36%), time constraints (33%), and other reasons for not seeking medical help. Participants with moderate-to-severe PMS who had sought medical help showed a significant improvement of - 8.44 points (95% CI: - 14.73 to - 2.15 points) in intermenstrual MDQ scores during the follow-up period. However, there were no significant improvements in premenstrual and menstrual MDQ scores or absolute presenteeism.
Medical help-seeking alleviated intermenstrual symptoms in women with moderate-to-severe PMS, but only a small proportion of them sought medical help after PMS education. Further research should be conducted to benefit the majority of women who are reluctant to seek medical help, including the provision of self-care information.
UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number: UMIN000038917.
经前期综合征（PMS）在育龄妇女中很常见，但大多数人并未寻求医学建议。我们假设提高对 PMS 的认识可以促进对 PMS 的医疗求助，从而减轻月经症状并提高工作效率。
2020 年 1 月，年龄在 25 至 44 岁之间、有带薪工作且目前未咨询妇产科医生的女性（n=3090）回答了经期困扰问卷（MDQ）、经前期症状筛查工具和世界卫生组织健康和工作表现问卷。此外，她们还接受了基于清单的 PMS 在线教育。在 3090 名参与者中，有 2487 名（80.5%）参加了 2020 年 9 月的随访调查。我们进行了多项逻辑回归分析和文本分析，以探讨鼓励和阻碍医疗求助的因素。我们还使用广义估计方程和 PMS 的严重程度、求助和时间之间的相互作用来评估月经症状和工作效率的变化。
在随访期间，4.9%的参与者（121/2487）寻求了医疗帮助。那些年收入较高（调整后的优势比[aOR] = 2.07，95%置信区间[CI]：1.21-3.53）和中重度 PMS（aOR = 2.27，95%CI：1.49-3.46）的人更有可能寻求医疗帮助。尽管有中重度 PMS，但那些没有寻求医疗帮助的人报告症状正常化（36%）、时间限制（33%）和其他不寻求医疗帮助的原因。寻求医疗帮助的中重度 PMS 参与者在随访期间的 intermenstrual MDQ 评分中显著改善了-8.44 分（95%CI：-14.73 至-2.15 分）。然而，经前期和经期 MDQ 评分或绝对出勤情况没有显著改善。
医疗求助缓解了中重度 PMS 女性的 intermenstrual 症状，但只有一小部分女性在 PMS 教育后寻求医疗帮助。应进一步开展研究，使大多数不愿寻求医疗帮助的女性受益，包括提供自我护理信息。
UMIN 临床试验注册编号：UMIN000038917。
