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OBJECTIVE: To assess impact of premenstrual symptoms on activities of women's daily lives (ADL). DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based survey. SETTING: Market research company. PATIENT(S): A total of 4,085 women aged 14-50 years recruited by random telephone digit dialing in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Mexico. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): A telephone interview checklist of 23 premenstrual symptoms, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, and ADL effects (global question and seven areas). Stepwise regression measured the effect of premenstrual symptoms and sociodemographic factors on ADL. RESULT(S): Symptoms and symptom domains (physical and mental) had similar negative effects on ADL. Activities of daily life were predominantly affected by symptom severity. Income level, age, and country also significantly affected ADL. In all, 2,638 women (64.6%) were minimally affected in ADL, 981 (24%) were moderately affected, and 454 (11.1%) were severely affected. CONCLUSION(S): Both physical and mental premenstrual symptoms have significant impact on quality of life, assessed as ADL. Up to 35% of women of reproductive age in Europe and Latin America were moderately or severely affected in ADL by cyclical premenstrual symptoms.

Objective : To assess impact of premenstrual symptoms on activities of women's daily lives (ADL).Design : Cross-sectional population-based survey.Setting : Market research company. Patient(s) : A total of 4,085 women aged 14–50 years recruited by random telephone digit dialing in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Mexico. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): A telephone interview checklist of 23 premenstrual symptoms, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, and ADL effects (global question and seven areas). Stepwise regression measured the effect of premenstrual symptoms and sociodemographic factors on ADL. Result(s): Symptoms and symptom domains (physical and mental) had similar negative effects on ADL. Activities of daily life were predominantly affected by symptom severity. Income level, age, and country also significantly affected ADL. In all, 2,638 women (64.6%) were minimally affected in ADL, 981 (24%) were moderately affected, and 454 (11.1%) were severely affected. Conclusion(s): Both physical and mental premenstrual symptoms have significant impact on quality of life, assessed as ADL. Up to 35% of women of reproductive age in Europe and Latin America were moderately or severely affected in ADL by cyclical premenstrual symptoms.

Objective : To assess impact of premenstrual symptoms on activities of women's daily lives (ADL).Design : Cross-sectional population-based survey.Setting : Market research company. Patient(s) : A total of 4,085 women aged 14–50 years recruited by random telephone digit dialing in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Mexico. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): A telephone interview checklist of 23 premenstrual symptoms, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, and ADL effects (global question and seven areas). Stepwise regression measured the effect of premenstrual symptoms and sociodemographic factors on ADL. Result(s): Symptoms and symptom domains (physical and mental) had similar negative effects on ADL. Activities of daily life were predominantly affected by symptom severity. Income level, age, and country also significantly affected ADL. In all, 2,638 women (64.6%) were minimally affected in ADL, 981 (24%) were moderately affected, and 454 (11.1%) were severely affected. Conclusion(s): Both physical and mental premenstrual symptoms have significant impact on quality of life, assessed as ADL. Up to 35% of women of reproductive age in Europe and Latin America were moderately or severely affected in ADL by cyclical premenstrual symptoms.

OBJECTIVES: Determine women's experiences of premenstrual symptoms. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. Sample In all, 4085 women aged 14-49 years recruited by random telephone digit dialing in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil and Mexico. Main outcome measures Telephone interview checklist of 23 premenstrual symptoms, sociodemographic variables and lifestyle variables. RESULTS: The most prevalent symptoms were abdominal bloating, cramps or abdominal pain, breast tenderness, irritability and mood swings. Severity of symptoms is directly proportional to duration (R = 0.79). Hierarchical clustering found the following mental and physical domains and a typology: 'Mild' type (40.8%) with minimal symptoms; 'Moderate M' type (28.7%) with moderately severe, mostly mental symptoms; 'Moderate P' type (21.9%) with moderately severe, mostly physical symptoms; and 'Severe' type (8.6%) with severe intensity of both mental and physical symptoms. Multiple stepwise regression found significant effects on symptom duration severity index of age (linear and quadratic effects), current smoking and country. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is needed on the impact of premenstrual symptoms on quality of life, and whether a brief symptom list could be developed as a valid and reliable tool globally.

Abstrakt Bei Frauen wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen berufsbedingten Expositionen und dem primären Leberzellkarzinom (HCC) bisher nur sehr eingeschränkt diskutiert, das heißt, es gibt bisher kaum Forschungsergebnisse. Diese Arbeit zeigt die Ergebnisse einer internationalen Fall-Kontroll-Studie bei Frauen. Es wurden 317 HCC-Fälle und 1789 Kontrollen ohne diese Erkrankung untersucht. Grenzwertig signifikant erhöhte, adjustierte Risikoschätzer (Odds Ratio=OR)konnten für Beschäftigte in der Landwirtschaft (OR=2.50, 95% Konfidenzintervall: 1.28-4.88) und der chemischen Industrie (2.37 (1.04-5.41)) gefunden werden. Andere, nicht-signifikant erhöhte Werte fanden sich bei Frauen, die in der pharmazeutischen Industrie, in der Plastik- und PVC-Produktion, in der Schlachterei und in der Textilindustrie beschäftigt waren. Allerdings zeigten die jeweiligen Risikoschätzer nur eine geringe Konsistenz zwischen drei verschiedenen Analyseverfahren. Desweiteren zeigte keine der Analysen einen linearen Trend mit zunehmender Zeitdauer der Exposition. Die Anzahl der exponierten Fälle und Kontrollen waren aber in vielen der Berufsgruppen sehr klein, und damit auch die Studien-Power und die Präzision. Wir konnten keinen ernstzunehmenden und konsistenten Beleg für eine Beziehung zwischen HCC bei Frauen und berufsbedingten Expositionen aufzeigen. Nichtsdestotrotz, auch schwache Hinweise auf berufsbedingte Risiken rechtfertigen weitere sorgfältige Betrachtungen in zukünftigen Studien., The association of occupational variables and hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is discussed with particular reference to women, as little research has been undertaken on their behalf. This paper reports the results of an international case-control study concerning women and involves 317 cases of HCC and 1789 controls without HCC. Working in the chemical industry and in farming was shown to have only a marginally significant risk associated with HCC: adjusted occupational risk (OR) and 95% confidence interval 2.37 (1.04-5.41) for the chemical industry and 2.50 (1.28-4.88) for farming. Other non-significantly elevated ORs were observed in the pharmaceutical, plastics, PVC-producing, textile-producing and butchery industries. Little consistency was found among the risk estimates for HCC, based on three different analytical approaches. None of the analyses showed a linear trend of risk with increasing duration of exposure. However, the numbers of exposed cases and controls were small for many of the occupations and therefore the study power and precision were low. We failed to find important and consistent evidence for a relationship between HCC in women and occupational variables. However, even weak evidence of occupational risk warrants careful consideration in future studies.

Abstrakt Bei Frauen wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen berufsbedingten Expositionen und dem primären Leberzellkarzinom (HCC) bisher nur sehr eingeschränkt diskutiert, das heißt, es gibt bisher kaum Forschungsergebnisse. Diese Arbeit zeigt die Ergebnisse einer internationalen Fall-Kontroll-Studie bei Frauen. Es wurden 317 HCC-Fälle und 1789 Kontrollen ohne diese Erkrankung untersucht. Grenzwertig signifikant erhöhte, adjustierte Risikoschätzer (Odds Ratio=OR)konnten für Beschäftigte in der Landwirtschaft (OR=2.50, 95% Konfidenzintervall: 1.28-4.88) und der chemischen Industrie (2.37 (1.04-5.41)) gefunden werden. Andere, nicht-signifikant erhöhte Werte fanden sich bei Frauen, die in der pharmazeutischen Industrie, in der Plastik- und PVC-Produktion, in der Schlachterei und in der Textilindustrie beschäftigt waren. Allerdings zeigten die jeweiligen Risikoschätzer nur eine geringe Konsistenz zwischen drei verschiedenen Analyseverfahren. Desweiteren zeigte keine der Analysen einen linearen Trend mit zunehmender Zeitdauer der Exposition. Die Anzahl der exponierten Fälle und Kontrollen waren aber in vielen der Berufsgruppen sehr klein, und damit auch die Studien-Power und die Präzision. Wir konnten keinen ernstzunehmenden und konsistenten Beleg für eine Beziehung zwischen HCC bei Frauen und berufsbedingten Expositionen aufzeigen. Nichtsdestotrotz, auch schwache Hinweise auf berufsbedingte Risiken rechtfertigen weitere sorgfältige Betrachtungen in zukünftigen Studien., The association of occupational variables and hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is discussed with particular reference to women, as little research has been undertaken on their behalf. This paper reports the results of an international case-control study concerning women and involves 317 cases of HCC and 1789 controls without HCC. Working in the chemical industry and in farming was shown to have only a marginally significant risk associated with HCC: adjusted occupational risk (OR) and 95% confidence interval 2.37 (1.04-5.41) for the chemical industry and 2.50 (1.28-4.88) for farming. Other non-significantly elevated ORs were observed in the pharmaceutical, plastics, PVC-producing, textile-producing and butchery industries. Little consistency was found among the risk estimates for HCC, based on three different analytical approaches. None of the analyses showed a linear trend of risk with increasing duration of exposure. However, the numbers of exposed cases and controls were small for many of the occupations and therefore the study power and precision were low. We failed to find important and consistent evidence for a relationship between HCC in women and occupational variables. However, even weak evidence of occupational risk warrants careful consideration in future studies.