Survey study, 1990
Does PMS come from a broken stress hormone system?
Women with PMS had a few small differences in their stress hormone (cortisol) responses compared to women without PMS, but their overall daily cortisol output was normal. This suggests only mild, temporary hormone shifts that the body seems able to correct on its own.
What they did
Researchers compared the stress hormone (HPA) system in women diagnosed with PMS and in control women with no psychiatric disorder, using standard criteria and a structured interview. They measured urinary cortisol, and blood cortisol and ACTH before and after a CRH injection, comparing the first and second half of the cycle. Sample size is not stated.
What they found
Urinary free cortisol was the same in PMS and normal women, with no difference between cycle phases in either group. However, PMS patients had significantly lower basal evening blood cortisol, and a significantly bigger cortisol response after the CRH injection. A normal link in healthy women, between the ACTH/cortisol response to CRH and later-cycle progesterone, was missing in PMS patients.
What it means for you
The results suggest women with PMS may have brief, episodic blips in their stress hormone system that the body's own checks and balances manage to fix, which may explain why their periods stay regular, unlike in depression or anorexia. This is an older, small lab comparison with no stated sample size, so it cannot prove PMS is caused by this pattern.
About the study
- Original title
- Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function in patients with the premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Rabin DS, Schmidt PJ, Campbell G et al.
- Journal
- The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None tested as treatment; a CRH injection was used as a diagnostic hormone-stimulation test
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1210/jcem-71-5-1158
Topics
Related studies
Cohort study, 2023
Are PMS symptoms linked to genetic factors for psychiatric disorders?
Case-control study, 2023
Do emotion regulation strategies help women with PMDD manage mood and stress hormones?
Cohort study, 2022
What are PMS and PMDD and how should they be diagnosed and treated?
Case-control study, 2006
Are hormone-related chemicals different in women with mood disorders during the menstrual cycle?
Cohort study, 2026
Does brain structure differ between women with PMDD and healthy controls?
Survey study, 2023
Do women with PMS have slower reaction times and mood changes than others?