Study, 1991
Do women with PMS have higher body temperature?
Yes. Women with PMS had significantly higher nighttime body temperature compared to women without PMS across the entire menstrual cycle.
What they did
Researchers measured core body temperature and motor activity patterns in three groups: 10 women with PMS (6 of whom also met criteria for PMDD), 6 women with chronic depression, and 6 women with no symptoms. Measurements were taken at 4 phases of the menstrual cycle.
What they found
Women with PMS had significantly higher nocturnal temperatures than comparison subjects across the entire menstrual cycle. There were no differences in nighttime activity levels. Women with chronic depression had mean nocturnal temperature in the follicular phase as high as women with PMS. All women had higher temperatures in the luteal phase than the follicular phase.
What it means for you
Women with PMS tend to run a higher temperature at night. However, women with chronic depression also showed high temperatures during part of the cycle, so this finding might not be unique to PMS. The study was small (10 women with PMS), and the researchers note that future studies should carefully track menstrual cycle phase and symptoms in all women studied.
10
women with PMS
6
also meeting PMDD criteria
4
menstrual cycle phases measured
About the study
- Original title
- High nocturnal body temperature in premenstrual syndrome and late luteal phase dysphoric disorder
- Authors
- Severino SK, Wagner DR, Moline ML et al.
- Journal
- The American journal of psychiatry
- Year
- 1991
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 10
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1176/ajp.148.10.1329
Topics
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