Premenstrual Symptoms and Psychiatric Morbidity in Two Italian Health Care Settings

Epidemiological surveys show that a large number of adult females complain of symptoms related to the menstrual cycle. According to the method proposed by another author, we administered the modified version of the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), 12-item version, to 101 women attending a family planning clinic and to 92 women attending a general practice in two North Italian towns. A very high rate (about 85% of the total sample) of women complained of moderate to severe symptoms during their premenstrual phase and a substantial proportion of women showed some degree of psychiatric ill health. Comparing the premenstrual complainers and the premenstrual non-complainers, the only significant difference found was related to the score on the GHQ. Half the women reported about 5 symptoms, and a cluster analysis identified a group of women complaining of severe symptoms. Implications of these findings for the current discussion on the premenstrual syndrome are discussed.