PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME SYMPTOMS (PMS) AND PREVALENCE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

A cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the frequency of PMS, on 520 subjects selected from University of Karachi (mean age 20±1.94).The PMS and menstrual cycle data of individuals were collected from prism calendar and symptom-thermal chart for three consecutive cycles. Based on the observations, all subjects were grouped as control (208) and PMS patients (312). The frequency (60%) with symptoms include irritability (71.05%), fatigue (86.84%), and bowel constipation (36.76%) and loose bowel (17.65%), appetite up (42.65%), and appetite down (51.47%).Breast tenderness (67.65%), abdominal blotting (47.06%), aggressiveness (29.41%), depression (13.24%), and insomnia (14.71%), labile mood (5.88%), and anger (7.35%). Elevated irritability and breast tenderness were observed in age group (19-24 years) i.e. 92% and 82% respectively with p<0.001. The present study identified a pattern non-similar to the typical PMS pattern of the Western populations. The typical socio-cultural habitat of Pakistani population, may have led to the evolution of a different pattern of PMS