--- title: Do women with eating disorders experience more menstrual distress, and does birth control help? description: Yes, women with eating disorders reported significantly more menstrual distress than healthy women across all symptoms measured. Birth control reduced distres url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/menstrual-distress-in-women-with-eating-disorders-insights-from-the-menstrual-2025/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women with eating disorders experience more menstrual distress, and does birth control help? Case-control study, 2025 # Do women with eating disorders experience more menstrual distress, and does birth control help? Yes, women with eating disorders reported significantly more menstrual distress than healthy women across all symptoms measured. Birth control reduced distress only in those with milder eating disorder symptoms, not in those with more severe symptoms. Moderate study design 132 women with eating disorders and 105 healthy women ## What they did Compared 132 women with eating disorders to 105 healthy women. Participants completed questionnaires measuring menstrual distress, premenstrual symptoms, and eating disorder and general psychological symptoms. ## What they found Women with eating disorders scored higher on all menstrual distress measures compared to controls. About 65% of distress was specific to the menstrual phase in both groups. Symptoms like muscle pain, breast tenderness, swelling, headache, constipation, feeling impure, impulsiveness, anxiety, insomnia, and fatigue were particularly distressing. Higher menstrual distress correlated with more severe eating disorder symptoms. Hormonal contraceptive use predicted reduced distress in women with low eating disorder symptoms but not in those with high eating disorder symptoms. ## What it means for you Eating disorders and menstrual distress are closely linked. Birth control may help some women but not those with severe eating disorder psychopathology. This suggests the psychological aspects of the eating disorder may be more important than hormone treatment in this group. 132 women with eating disorders 105 healthy women 65% distress specific to menstrual phase ## About the study Original title Menstrual distress in women with eating disorders: insights from the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MEDI-Q) Authors Rossi E, Cassioli E, Cordasco VZ et al. Journal Archives of women's mental health Year 2025 Study design Case-control study Participants 132 What was tested Hormonal contraceptive use Read the paper [doi.org/10.1007/s00737-024-01542-1](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-024-01542-1) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Bloating, breast tenderness and physical symptoms](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-physical-symptoms/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)[Eating disorders](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-eating-disorders/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Survey study, 2016 Do hormonal contraceptives reduce PMS symptoms? Randomised trial, 1992 Does a triphasic birth control pill help premenstrual symptoms? Survey study, 1982 How common are premenstrual symptoms in American women, and what factors affect them? Randomised trial, 1987 Does danazol help premenstrual tension symptoms? Non-randomised trial, 1983 Do drugs that block prostaglandins help PMS? Randomised trial, 2024 Does estetrol/drospirenone birth control improve PMS symptoms? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗