Investıgatıon of rısk factors and treatment seekıng behavıour ın premenstrual syndrome

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish the risk factors of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and treatment seeking behaviour.Method: Participants of our cross-sectional research were 268 women aged between 15?49 with regular menstruations and applied to a primary health care center in İzmir Hatay between March and April 2011. Demographic characteristics, PMS risk factors, treatment seeking attitudes and behaviors were inquired with a questionnaire, as well as PMS criteria of University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and premenstrual syndrome scale (PMSS). Data were analysed by using SPSS 15.0. Chi square, fisher?s exact test and t test were used in analysis. p<0,05 was accepted as significant.Findings: The most frequent symptoms were irritability (85,4%) and fatigue (79,9%) according to UCSD criteria. Appetite variations (69,4%) and swelling (63,1%) were leading complaints in subscales of PMSS. Most of the women with PMS were married (69,5%), had children (73,2%), experienced dysmenorrhea in most of their cycles (39,5%) and used drugs regularly for chronic diseases (21,3%) (p<0,05). Premenstrual symptoms or PMS were mostly present in their mothers (72,9%) or sisters (86,8%) (p<0,05). While 37,7% of participants thought that their symptoms can be treatable, only 4,1% of them have received treatment. The most frequent reason for not seeking treatment was the perception of symptoms as normal.Conclusion: The majority of women with PMS have not seeking treatment. Therefore, it will be feasible to monitor women in their reproductive period by their primary care physicians with respect to their premenstrual symptoms regularly.