---
title: Does fluoxetine or calcium work better than placebo for premenstrual syndrome?
description: Fluoxetine worked better than placebo with clear benefit and moderate to strong effect sizes. Calcium had only a small effect. Fluoxetine appears to be the mo
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/a-pilot-study-to-compare-fluoxetine-calcium-and-placebo-in-the-treatment-of-2013/
---

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- Does fluoxetine or calcium work better than placebo for premenstrual syndrome?

Randomised trial, 2013

# Does fluoxetine or calcium work better than placebo for premenstrual syndrome?

Fluoxetine worked better than placebo with clear benefit and moderate to strong effect sizes. Calcium had only a small effect. Fluoxetine appears to be the more effective treatment.

 Moderate study design

39 women with at least 3 moderate to severe PMS symptoms and functional impairment

## What they did

39 women with at least 3 moderate to severe PMS symptoms and functional impairment were randomly assigned to fluoxetine (10 mg twice daily), calcium carbonate (600 mg twice daily), or placebo. The study lasted 4 menstrual cycles. Symptoms were measured using DRSP, IDS, Premenstrual Tension Scale, and CGI scales.

## What they found

Fluoxetine showed the greatest symptom improvement. Statistically significant reductions were found for DRSP (β = -0.28, P = 0.02) and CGI-Improvement (β = -1.03, P = 0.04). Cohen d effect sizes for fluoxetine were between 0.80 and 2.08 compared to placebo, while calcium effect sizes were only between 0.10 and 0.44.

## What it means for you

Fluoxetine is clearly helpful for PMS symptoms, while calcium has minimal benefit beyond placebo. This is a small pilot study (n=39), so larger comparison studies are needed. Fluoxetine's benefit was much stronger than calcium's.

39

Number of women

0.80-2.08

Fluoxetine effect size versus placebo

0.10-0.44

Calcium effect size versus placebo

## About the study

Original title A pilot study to compare fluoxetine, calcium, and placebo in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome Authors Yonkers KA, Pearlstein TB, Gotman N Journal Journal of clinical psychopharmacology Year 2013 Study design Randomised trial Participants 39 What was tested Fluoxetine 10 mg twice daily, calcium carbonate 600 mg twice daily, or placebo Read the paper [doi.org/10.1097/jcp.0b013e31829c7697](https://doi.org/10.1097/jcp.0b013e31829c7697)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[SSRIs and antidepressants](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-ssri/)[Calcium](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-calcium/)

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