BACKGROUND Premenstrual symptoms are particularly common in reproductive age groups and therefore represents a significant public health problem in young girls. This study aims to estimate the prevalence, severity, determinants of premenstrual symptoms among the female medical and nursing students. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was conducted in a tertiary hospital and research centre from October 2012 to May 2013. It included 820 medical and nursing students. They filled different

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... res covering American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ACOG) criteria to diagnose Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), demographic and reproductive variables. The presented symptoms were compared and analysed using x2 tests. RESULTS Prevalence of premenstrual symptoms was 97.10% and prevalence of PMS was diagnosed in 76.83% of cases. The severity of premenstrual symptoms distributed as 89.21% mild, 10.04% moderate and 0.75% severe. The most frequent psychological symptom was irritability and most frequent somatic symptom was abdominal bloating. Chi square revealed that PMS was significantly associated with regularity of menstrual cycles, age of menarche at 12 or more years, 3 -6 days of menstrual bleeding and development of premenstrual syndrome. CONCLUSION PMS is a common problem in reproductive age group. Younger student age, urban residence, late age of menarche, regular cycles and moderate menstrual bleed are possible risk factors for PMS.