Cohort study, 2003
Do women with PMDD who experienced abuse respond differently to stress?
Women with PMDD who had experienced sexual or physical abuse showed different stress hormone patterns when stressed, with lower resting stress hormones but stronger adrenaline responses, different from non-PMDD women with abuse histories.
What they did
Twenty-eight women with confirmed PMDD were matched with 28 non-PMDD control women. All had their heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones measured at rest and during mental stress tests in both early and late phases of their cycle. All were interviewed about prior sexual and physical abuse experiences.
What they found
Twenty PMDD women with prior abuse had lower resting norepinephrine, stronger adrenaline receptor responses, and greater norepinephrine reactivity to stress in the late cycle phase compared to 8 PMDD women without prior abuse. In non-PMDD controls, prior abuse was associated with blunted cortisol, heart rate, and cardiac output responses to stress.
What it means for you
A history of abuse may affect how women's bodies respond to stress differently in PMDD compared to women without PMDD. This suggests PMDD and trauma history interact biologically, but the study was small, measured only two cycle phases, and examined associations rather than causes.
28
Women with PMDD studied
20
Women with PMDD who had prior abuse
10
Control women with prior abuse
About the study
- Original title
- Biological correlates of abuse in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder and healthy controls
- Authors
- Girdler SS, Sherwood A, Hinderliter AL et al.
- Journal
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Year
- 2003
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- None (observational study examining prior abuse history)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1097/01.psy.0000088593.38201.cd
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