PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME AND WORK AMONG FEMALE ACADEMIC TEACHING STAFF IN AGOVERNMENTAL FACULTY OF MEDICINE IN EGYPT

Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects many women during their work life. PMS in working’ Egyptian women, however, are less well researched. Aim of work: To determine the prevalence of PMS in a sample of academic female teaching staff in Zagazig University and explore PMS in the work context. Materials and methods: One hundred and eighty six academic female from Zagazig University (mean age=30.74 years) participated in a comparative cross-sectional study involving a semistructured interview and completing prospective premenstrual symptom questionnairebetween April and December 2015. Results: The results showed a high prevalence rate (66%, n=122) had PMS. Student’s t-tests, chi-square tests were used to examine group differences and multiple regression analyses to explore relationships between background variables and PMS symptom types (behavioral, physical, and psychological)and work outcomes of interest (job performance, work capacity, coping with work,and whether work made symptoms worse). Compared to staff without PMS, women with PMS experienced greater impaired work capacity, job performance, and perceived work to exacerbate their PMS symptoms. Conclusion: This study showed that PMS is highly prevalent among female academic teaching staff in Zagazig University and is more likely to show greater perceptions of impaired work capacity, erformance, aswell as perceiving work to make symptoms worse.