Objective: Premenstrual syndrome is a wide variety of physical and psychological symptoms that occurs in a week before the beginning of menstruation. In Some studies, regular physical activity especially. aerobic exercise are recommended as a non-pharmacological therapy for premenstrual syndrome. The importance of a healthy body mass in the prevention of this syndrome has been mentioned in some other researches. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cardio-respiratory fitness and waist to hip ratio with physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.
Methods: The method of this research was a kind of descriptive correlation. Sixty female students(ages 18-25 years) voluntarily participated in this study. The Moos menstrual distress questionnaire was used for measuring premenstrual symptoms. Maximal oxygen uptake was calculated using the Bruce treadmill test. Waist and hip circumferences of participants were also measured and waist to hip ratio was calculated. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used for analysis of the data.
Results: Cardio-respiratory fitness was significantly and negatively correlated with physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (P<0.05),but waist to hip ratio was not associated with physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome(P>0.05).
Conclusions: The higher level of cardio-respiratory fitness which is probably the result of exercise and daily activities may be an important factor correlated with the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.