The impact of climate change anxiety on premenstrual syndrome: A cross-sectional study

Climate change is thought to have possible effects on changes in the menstruation process, which covers an important period of time in women's lives. Our study aimed to determine the impact of climate change anxiety on premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in women of reproductive age.

This is a cross-sectional study. The research was conducted online using various digital platforms between December 2023 and February 2024. This study was conducted on 456 women of reproductive age. The Personal Information Form, PMS Scale and Eco-Anxiety Scale were used for the data collection. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

The prevalence of PMS was 44.7%. The average score for the Eco-Anxiety Scale was 27.28 ± 6.44. A significant majority of participants (81.4%) stated that climate change would affect women's health, and 81.1% thought that they were affected by climate change. The Eco-Anxiety Scale scores were higher in women with PMS (p < 0.05). The results of the binary logistic regression analysis showed that being affected by climate change (odds ratio [OR] = 2.109, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.045-4.259, p = 0.035), age at menarche (OR = 1.249, 95% Cl = 1.073-1.453, p = 0.004) and Eco-Anxiety Scale scores were significant predictors of PMS (OR = 0.828, 95% Cl = 0.791-0.867, p < 0.001).

The results of our study showed that women with PMS had higher Eco-Anxiety Scale scores. Given the global effects of climate change, it is important to investigate its effects as a risk factor for the emergence of PMS. Furthermore, women's healthcare providers play an important and beneficial role in adapting to a changing climate; these efforts will have long-term impacts.