Many women in fertile period of their lives experience some mental and physical symptoms that begin on 7–10 days before menses and cease after bleeding. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) are the terms to indicate these symptoms. The prevalence of PMS has been estimated to be about40% to70%, PMDD has lower prevalence.

This study has evaluated the frequencies of PMS and PMDD along with related factors in students of girls’ high schools in Kermanshah.

In this descriptive-analytic study, 800 students of girls’ high schools were chosen by incidentally and clustery sampling. Everyone who was volunteer included in the study. Excluding criteria were: history of depression; medical illnesses like epilepsy, meningitis, encephalitis, heart diseases…; history of consumption of β-blockers or other drugs of heart diseases, Phenobarbitals, and anticonvulsants. The diagnosis was made according to DSM.IV.TR. The data was processed using SPSS software, version 11.5, and by descriptive and analytic statistical methods.

Results

1. The frequencies of PMS and PMDD were 41.5% and 9.4% respectively.

2. The disorder was more frequent in students older than 16 years-old.

3. Mood symptoms were the most frequent, followed by physical and behavioral symptoms respectively.

4. There was lower frequency of the disorder in students whose mothers were high educated.

5. The frequency of PMS was higher in those with positive family history.

The high frequencies of PMS and PMDD which result to problems in education of students need serious considerations to elevate mental health of students and to refer the severe cases to specialized centers.