Attitudes of Spanish women toward premenstrual symptoms, premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder: results of a nationwide survey.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the attitudes of women with premenstrual symptoms in relation to their perception of complaints and request for medical advice.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of a representative cohort of 2018 Spanish women aged 15-49 years. Participants were personally interviewed at home and completed the premenstrual symptoms screening tool.

RESULTS: A total of 1554 women (73.7%) complained of some of the premenstrual symptoms during the last 12 menstrual cycles. The prevalence of moderate or severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) was 8.9% and the prevalence of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) 1.1%. Only 291 (18.7%) women had sought medical advice. The main reason given by 90.6% of symptomatic women for not seeking medical consultation was to consider that symptoms were normal. A total of 175 (60.1%) women received pharmacological treatment (hormonal contraceptives in 95% followed by analgesics in 50% and anti-inflammatory agents in 44%), 20% were not treated because physicians considered that symptoms were not important and would disappear spontaneously, and 12% received only advice to change life style.

CONCLUSION: Women suffering from PMS or PMDD do not usually seek medical advice and among those seeking medical care, in many cases, an adequate response to their demands is not obtained.