Non-randomised trial, 1993
Does stopping menstruation with a GnRH agonist reduce PMS symptoms?
In women with PMS alone, yes. Six of seven had significant symptom reduction including near-complete relief of premenstrual depression. In women with PMS and depression, the treatment did not help.
What they did
An open-label pilot trial. Women with PMS with or without depression received 3.75 mg of depot leuprolide injected once monthly. They tracked symptoms daily compared to their untreated baseline.
What they found
Six of 7 women with PMS only had their periods stop and experienced significant symptom reduction (p < .0001), especially relief of swelling and breast tenderness. Their premenstrual depression scores fell almost completely. The 2 women with both PMS and depression saw little improvement in PMS symptoms and no improvement in depression.
What it means for you
Stopping menstruation can relieve PMS symptoms in some women, though not those with coexisting depression. This is a very small open trial without a control group, so the results may not apply to everyone.
6 of 7
PMS subjects with symptom reduction
3.75 mg
Monthly leuprolide dose
p < .0001
Significance of symptom reduction
About the study
- Original title
- Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist in treatment of premenstrual symptoms with and without comorbidity of depression: a pilot study
- Authors
- Freeman EW, Sondheimer SJ, Rickels K et al.
- Journal
- The Journal of clinical psychiatry
- Year
- 1993
- Study design
- Non-randomised trial
- What was tested
- Leuprolide 3.75 mg depot injection monthly
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8509350/
Topics
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