Association of severity of premenstrual disorders with absenteeism and presenteeism among Japanese working women: a cross-sectional study

Premenstrual disorders (PMDs) in working women are reported to be associated with absenteeism and presenteeism, but few studies have considered their severity from a broad range of manifestations and investigated its impact on absenteeism and presenteeism simultaneously within the same population consisting of various occupations. Thus, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,987 premenopausal women working across Japan using a self-administered survey that included items on absenteeism and presenteeism due to premenstrual symptoms and symptom severity. Multivariate analyses were used to examine the association between PMD severity, absenteeism (being away from work) and presenteeism (decreased work performance). Results demonstrated that PMD severity was strongly associated with both absenteeism and presenteeism irrespective of age, socioeconomic background, and work-related factors. Those with moderate to severe forms of PMDs had a two-fold risk of absenteeism and 18-30% worse presenteeism compared to a milder group. Furthermore, two-thirds of women with severe PMDs reported ≥30% performance reduction without absenteeism, indicating that the impact of PMDs was more significant for presenteeism than absenteeism. Our study results suggest the importance of widely promoting education and treatment of PMDs regardless of sociodemographic factors and working conditions for securing the workforce through the advancement of working women.