Severity of Premenstrual Symptoms and its Impact on Quality of Life among young and Middle-aged women – A Community Based Comparative Study

A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the severity of premenstrual symptoms and its impact on quality of life among young and middle-aged women residing at a selected community in Ernakulam district, Kerala. Convenience sampling was used to choose 130 participants, comprising 65 young and 65 middle- aged women. Data were gathered employing the Structured Premenstrual Symptoms Assessment Scale to assess premenstrual symptoms severity and the WHOQOL-BREF tool to evaluate the quality of life. The research outcomes revealed statistically significant difference in the severity of premenstrual symptoms between young and middle-aged women (p-value <0.05). Additionally, it highlighted statistically significant variations in WHOQOL-BREF scores across physical, psychological, and social domains between the two groups. Furthermore, a statistically significant weak negative correlation was observed between the severity of premenstrual symptoms and the quality of life concerning the social domain (p-value < 0.05). Moreover, a statistically significant association was found between the regularity of menstrual cycles and the severity of premenstrual symptoms among both young and middle-aged women at p value<0.05.