Survey study, 2013
Do women with OCD experience worse symptoms before their period?
About half (49.7%) do experience premenstrual worsening of OCD symptoms. These women show higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal thinking, and specific obsessions about sex or religion.
What they did
Cross-sectional study of 455 women with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Researchers divided them into two groups: 226 who noticed their OCD symptoms got worse before their period and 229 who did not. They measured OCD severity, depression, and anxiety using standardised questionnaires.
What they found
Nearly half (49.7%) of women with OCD experienced premenstrual worsening of their symptoms. Compared to women without premenstrual worsening, this group had significantly higher rates of suicidal thoughts (P<.001), suicide attempts (P=.027), current SSRI use (P=.022), lifetime mood stabilizer use (P=.015), and were 1.90 times more likely to have obsessions about sex or religion (P<.001). They also had higher depression and anxiety scores.
What it means for you
This finding suggests hormonal changes around the menstrual cycle may worsen OCD symptoms in some women, which matters for their mental health care. However, this study did not measure hormone levels or track women through their cycles, so we cannot confirm hormones are the cause.
455
women with OCD
49.7%
with premenstrual symptom worsening
1.90
increased odds of sexual or religious obsessions
About the study
- Original title
- An exploratory dimensional approach to premenstrual manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms: a multicentre study
- Authors
- Moreira L, Bins H, Toressan R et al.
- Journal
- Journal of psychosomatic research
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 455
- What was tested
- None (observational comparison of OCD patients with and without premenstrual worsening)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.12.004
Topics
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