Study, 2025
Do combined oral contraceptives help treat PMS and PMDD?
Combined oral contraceptives are considered one treatment option for PMS and PMDD because they contain hormones that affect the system controlling hormone production. The review doesn't provide specific data on how well they work.
What they did
Analyzed research published between 2019 and 2024 from PubMed, ResearchGate, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Cochrane about combined oral contraceptives for PMS and PMDD.
What they found
Both PMS and PMDD appear to be linked to changes in progesterone during the menstrual cycle. Combined oral contraceptives contain synthetic estradiol and progestin, which affect the brain and pituitary system that controls hormone production.
What it means for you
This review explains why doctors use combined oral contraceptives to treat PMS and PMDD, but it doesn't present specific data on how well they work or their safety. It's limited because it didn't use systematic methods to find and evaluate studies.
2019-2024
Years of papers reviewed
About the study
- Original title
- Features of the use of combined oral contraceptives for the correction of premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- О. L. Lovkina, S. A. Tarasiuk, Ольга Мунтян
- Journal
- Reports of Vinnytsia National Medical University
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- Combined oral contraceptives containing synthetic estradiol and progestin
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.31393/reports-vnmedical-2025-29(1)-25
Original abstract
Annotation. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a set of cognitive, physical, and affective symptoms that occur during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and disappear at the beginning of menstruation. Its more severe variant is premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). The aim of the work is to investigate the effects of combined oral contraceptives and their effectiveness and safety for the correction of PMS and PMDD. A retrospective analysis of the scientific literature was carried out using the following sources: PubMed, ReseachGate, Science Direct, Web of Science, Cochrane. The majority of publications published in the last five years (2019-2024) were selected for the study. Both syndromes are believed to be caused by cyclical changes in progesterone production. Combined oral contraceptives (COCs) are considered one of the treatment options for PMS and PMDD, as the drugs of this group contain synthetic estradiol and progestin, which have a complex effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian system.
Reproduced under CC-BY.
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