INFLUENCE OF PREMENSTRUAL-SYNDROME ON FAMILY, SOCIAL-LIFE, AND WORK PERFORMANCE

Premenstrual syndrome is characterized by mental and physical symptoms that vary with different phases of the menstrual cycle. Symptoms star t shortly after ovulation, increase in severity, and reach a maximum d uring the last five premenstrual days. After the onset of menstrual bl eeding, the symptoms rapidly disappear and are usually gone within thr ee to four days. Diagnostic procedures using prospective daily symptom ratings have recently been developed, allowing a more precise diagnos is of the cyclical mood changes and leading to a clearer picture and d efinition of the condition. Results from community studies show that t he severity of the cyclical mood changes varies within a population of women of fertile age, from those having no cyclical mood changes. to those severely handicapped by the symptoms for 14 days of the month. T he severity assessment of subjective symptoms is difficult since sever ity is difficult to compare among individuals. In this article the aut hors review the different approaches to estimating severity of premens trual syndrome and compare the different approaches with approaches us ed for other conditions with subjective symptoms. Two possible approac hes are discussed in detail. One measures symptoms by counting the num ber of days with and without symptoms. The other estimates how much th e symptoms affect `patients' family life, social life, and work perfor mance. Differences between retrospective and prospective assessments a re also discussed.