Justina Stankovskaja, Žana Bumbulienė

Abstract

Research aim. To evaluate how hormonal contraception influences the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. To determine the prevalence of premenstrual symptoms and how hormonal contraception influences dysmenorrhea. Research material and methods. In November – March of 2016, a pilot study of 202 women was carried out at the JSC “Gintarinė Vaistinė” in Vilnius, based on an original survey on premenstrual symptoms. Only 191 respondents reached the final analysis. The questionnaire involved several psycho-emotional, vegetative, metabolic disorder, and other premenstrual symptoms. Respondents were divided into two groups – those who use and do not use hormonal contraception. Data gathered during the survey was processed using SPSS package version 17 and Microsoft Office Excel 2007. A statistical significance level is p<0.05. Results. The research showed that 77 (40%) women out of 191 used contraception (40 proc.) and 20% of them chose hormonal contraception. 114 respondents (60%) did not use contraception. The prevalence of premenstrual symptoms between groups was similar; the most common symptoms were: psycho-emotional (79.9%), metabolic disorders (77.9%), and vegetative (72.1%). Respondents who used hormonal contraception experience less severe psycho-emotional and vegetative premenstrual symptoms compared to women who did not use hormonal contraception (p=0.022; p=0.040). Women who did not use hormonal contraception suffered from depression more often (p=0.043) and experienced painful period (p=0.000). Conclusions. Hormonal contraception has positive influence on premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea symptoms. However, it cannot be argued that the use of hormonal contraception reduces the frequency or intensity of premenstrual syndrome due to the lack of comparative information on symptoms prior to the use of hormonal contraception.

Keyword(s): premenstrual syndrome; dysmenorrhea; contraception methods.
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2017.020
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