Premenstrual symptoms: Delineating symptom clusters

The purposes of this study were to (1) identify the clusters of symptoms wo men experience during the premenstruum, (2) assess the reliability of the s ymptom clusters as reported by a population-based sample and a sample of wo men with three perimenstrual symptom patterns, (3) compare the levels of se verity for the symptom clusters across menstrual cycle phases and by sympto m patterns (e.g,, premenstrual syndrome [PMS] vs, low severity), and (4) es timate the stability of the symptom cluster rankings across three menstrual cycle phases. Data from a cross-sectional population-based sample and a co mparative sample of women screened for low-severity (LS), PMS, and premenst rual magnification (PMM) symptom patterns were analyzed using factor analys is, correlation coefficients, multivariate analysis of variance, and reliab ility and stability coefficients. Four symptom clusters accounted for >40% of the variance: turmoil, fluid retention, somatic symptoms, and arousal sy mptoms. Alpha (a) levels were >.70 for turmoil and fluid retention. None of the symptom clusters had correlations with other factors that exceeded cu levels for sample 2. Symptom cluster scores varied by cycle phase and group (LS, PMS, PMM). Arousal and somatic symptoms were the most stable of the s ymptom clusters across cycle phases, and fluid retention and turmoil sympto ms were less stable.