Prevalence and Impacts of Premenstrual Syndrome among Bahraini Women: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the Arab Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (APMSS)

background: Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a constellation of psychological, physical and behavioral symptoms that has been described in medical literature, with limited data in the Arab region, especially in the Arabian Gulf countries. Method: This is a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in Bahrain from June to July 2014. A random sample of 250 women was chosen, of which 200 responded and their data analyzed. The Arabic Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (APMSS) was used, which consists of 23 items describing psychological, physical and functional impairment features of PMS. Results: The mean age of the sample was 22 ± 4.5. 99% had PMS symptoms, 100% had physical symptoms, 98.5% had psychological and 69% suffered from functional impairment. The majority (52%) suffered from moderate symptoms while mild symptoms were seen in 41% and only 6% had severe PMS. There was no statistically significant association between severity of symptoms and the sociodemographic, biometric or gynecological variables. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the majority of young women in the sample (93%) were suffering from mild (41%) to moderate (52%) PMS while severe symptoms were shown in only 6% of the participants.