Randomised trial, 2020
Does adding fluoxetine to birth control pills help with severe PMS?
Yes. Adding fluoxetine to birth control pills helped more women with severe PMS than pills alone. In the final month, 65% of women taking both improved, versus 50% on pills alone.
What they did
300 women with severe PMS were randomly divided into three equal groups. Group 1 took fluoxetine 20 mg daily plus birth control pills with drospirenone for 21 days per cycle. Group 2 took the same pills plus a dummy pill. Group 3 took dummy pills. All were treated for 6 months with daily symptom tracking.
What they found
In the final month, 65% of women in the fluoxetine plus birth control group had improved symptoms, compared to 50% in the birth control plus dummy pill group, and 2% in the group taking only dummy pills.
What it means for you
Adding fluoxetine to certain birth control pills can help reduce severe PMS better than birth control alone. Fluoxetine is a prescription medicine, so a doctor should be consulted before use. These results only apply to the birth control tested.
300
Women with severe PMS
65% vs 50% vs 2%
Women with improvement in final month
6 months
Treatment duration
About the study
- Original title
- Does Adding Fluoxetine to Combined Oral Contraceptives Containing Drospirenone Improve the Management of Severe Premenstrual Syndrome? A 6-Month Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Three-Arm Trial
- Authors
- Shehata NAA, Moety GAFA, El Wahed HAA et al.
- Journal
- Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- What was tested
- Fluoxetine 20 mg daily plus combined oral contraceptive containing drospirenone daily for 21 days per cycle, for 6 months
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s43032-019-00080-x
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