Prevalence and associated factors of migraine among female college students with premenstrual syndrome

Female college students of reproductive age are prone to both premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and migraine, with prior epidemiological and clinical studies suggesting a link between these conditions. Nevertheless, the specific predictive factors for migraine among individuals with PMS remain unclear. This multi-center study aimed to assess the prevalence of migraine among female college students with PMS and, through a comparison between those with and without migraine, identify potential predictive factors for migraine in this PMS cohort. Using a cluster sampling approach, general demographic information was collected from 3131 female students across nine institutions in northeastern Sichuan Province, China. Participants were assessed using the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST) to identify PMS, and the ID-Migraine questionnaire to screen for migraine. Additional measures included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI) to evaluate mental health, sleep quality, and mobile phone dependency, respectively. The results showed a migraine prevalence of 18.8% among female students with PMS. Those with migraine had significantly worse sleep quality (P < 0.001) and higher levels of depression (P = 0.002), anxiety (P < 0.001), and stress (P < 0.001) compared to those without migraine. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that decreased sleep quality (OR = 1.08, P = 0.002) and anxiety (OR = 1.24, P = 0.039) were significant independent risk factors for migraine. The findings suggest that among female college students with PMS, decreased sleep quality and anxiety are associated with migraine, underscoring the importance of incorporating mental health and sleep education into preventive strategies.