Prevalence of premenstrual syndrome among university students and affecting factors

In order to determine the incidence of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) in university students and the factors affecting it, the descriptive cross-sectional research was carried out with 743 female students who agreed to participate in the study, out of 1300 female students staying in three dormitories in Kilis Province between October 2018 and April 2019. Data were collected using the 'Individual Identification Form and Premenstrual Syndrome Scale'; Evaluated by X², Frequencies, Mann-Whitney U tests. PMS was detected in 35.4% of the participants, and the average score obtained from the scale was 120.49±34.07. Sub-dimension prevalences of the scale; 96.8% depressive affect, 95% fatigue, 93.7% anxiety, 93% depressive thoughts, 85.1% nervousness, 68.4% sleep changes, 66.6% appetite changes, 58.5% bloating, 53.2% pain. It has been determined that PMS is less common in those with a high body mass index average, those whose mothers are at university and above, who have sufficient information about menstruation and who do not experience tension before menstruation In addition, it was observed that the PMS scale scores of those who did not exercise were higher than those who exercised, but this difference was not statistically significant. As a result, it is important to determine the prevalence of PMS in the society and the factors affecting it, to inform students about menstruation problems, to teach ways of coping with stress, to gain healthy eating-regular exercise habits in reducing PMS complaints. Public health-school health nurses should take an active role in raising awareness of PMS in the society and preventing the negative effects of PMS. Keywords: Nursing, Premenstrual Syndrome, Public Health, University Student, Women's Health