The Association between Menstrual Symptoms and Presenteeism: A Cross-Sectional Study for Women Working in Central Tokyo

Menstrual symptoms lower women’s work performance, but to what extent one’s performance declines during the perimenstrual periods is unclear. This cross-sectional study evaluated relative presenteeism by the severity of menstrual symptoms in working women. Participants included women who joined a health promotion event in Tokyo. The severity of PMS and symptoms during menstruation were categorized based on their frequency, and the outcome variable was relative presenteeism as the ratio of work performance during the perimenstrual periods to that during the inter-menstrual period. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. Of the 312 participants, 238 were eligible, 50% of whom claimed severe symptoms in either PMS or during menstruation. Participants were divided into four groups (1) without severe menstrual symptoms, (2) severe PMS alone, (3) severe symptoms during menstruation alone, and (4) both severe PMS and symptoms during menstruation—and the mean relative presenteeism was 91% (standard deviation (SD) 23), 69% (SD 21), 76% (SD 16), and 69% (SD 27), respectively ( p < 0.01). A between-group comparison revealed statistically significant differences in relative presenteeism, when group (1) served as the criterion for comparisons ( p < 0.01). This study demonstrates that severe PMS alone, as well as both severe PMS and symptoms during menstruation, particularly decreased work performance.