omen everywhere in the world are affected by premenstrual symptoms, but just how prevalent are they? Researchers say mood symptoms are so common that they’re a “key public health issue globally.”

Premenstrual symptoms vary widely, from physical symptoms akin to fatigue and bloating to mood swings and anxiety. About 80% of ladies report having a minimum of one physical or mood symptom, the researchers wrote in a study published within the Archives of Women’s Health.

“Nonetheless, there is proscribed data on the occurrence of premenstrual symptoms across nations and by different age groups,” they wrote.

To shed further light on this necessary matter, researchers checked out a “large international dataset” comprising survey responses of 238,114 Flo app users from 140 countries. The participants, who ranged in age from 18 to 55, were asked about their premenstrual symptoms and in the event that they experience them “every menstrual cycle, some cycles, or never.”

Of the symptoms, food craving was probably the most commonly reported one, with 85.28% of ladies experiencing it. This was followed by mood swings or anxiety, experienced by 64.18% of participants, and fatigue (57.3%).

“In the present sample, lots of the symptoms that increased with age are related to perimenopause, akin to hot flashes, absentmindedness, and low libido,” the researchers wrote. “Thus, it is sensible that these premenstrual symptoms increased with age, potentially as women were approaching menopause, on condition that the sample included women as much as age 55.”

Nonetheless, mood swings and anxiety symptoms “didn’t differ significantly” between the age groups. Actually, contrary to previous studies that suggested mood swings would lessen with age, particularly amongst women 45 and above, the team found the symptoms were “a standard, persistent grievance across age ranges.”

With a majority of participants (61-64%) reporting it every menstrual cycle, this means that “premenstrual mood symptoms are a key public health issue globally,” the researchers said.

“Our study demonstrates that premenstrual mood symptoms are incredibly common worldwide,” study senior creator Jennifer Payne, of the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, said in a news release. “More necessary, a majority of ladies reported that their premenstrual symptoms interfered with their on a regular basis life a minimum of a few of the time.”

Indeed, periods can impact women’s day-to-day lives. When Latest Zealand announced its decision to distribute free sanitary products in schools last 12 months, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recalled how one in 12 young people needed to skip school because they didn’t have access to period products like tampons, pads or medicines for menstrual cramps.

With the outcomes of the study, researchers predict healthcare providers to be more aware of just how prevalent these symptoms are, hopefully getting women the assistance they need.

In the long run, studies could also look into why there may be such a large disparity in premenstrual symptoms between countries, with some reporting more of them and others less. As an example, the mood and anxiety symptoms were as high as 64% in Egypt, Jordan, Brazil, Lebanon and Brazil, but as little as 28% in places like Mali, Cameroon and Congo. In line with researchers, similar variations were present in other studies as well.

“Understanding whether differences in biology or culture underlie the country level rates will probably be a crucial future research direction,” Payne said.