Survey study, 1991
Are women more likely to need psychiatric hospital admission during certain phases of the menstrual cycle?
Yes. 47% of psychiatric emergency admissions occurred during the para-menstrual phase (the 4-5 days before and during the start of menses), compared with 22% of hospital staff. This suggests menstrual cycle changes can worsen psychiatric symptoms in vulnerable women.
What they did
Researchers assessed menstrual cycle phase in 51 women admitted to hospital for psychiatric emergencies. They compared this to 113 hospital staff members who were assessed at a random time when they arrived at work.
What they found
47% of psychiatric admissions occurred during the para-menstrual phase, versus 22% of staff controls. Within the admission group, 33.3% of admissions occurred within 4 days of the start of menses. No clear differences appeared between women with different diagnoses, between suicidal and non-suicidal women, or with depression severity scores.
What it means for you
Late menstrual cycle changes can worsen psychiatric symptoms in vulnerable women. The menstrual cycle phase alone did not determine how severe symptoms were, suggesting other factors are important too. The study was done in one hospital.
47%
admissions in para-menstrual phase (vs 22% controls)
33.3%
admissions within 4 days of menses start
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual cycle phase and psychiatric admissions
- Authors
- Targum SD, Caputo KP, Ball SK
- Journal
- Journal of affective disorders
- Year
- 1991
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 51
- What was tested
- None (observational)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(91)90083-5
Topics
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