Study, 1988
Do panic attacks get worse before menstruation?
The answer is unclear. When women looked back on their whole month, they said symptoms were worst in the week before menstruation. But when they rated symptoms every day or week, the changes were much smaller than expected.
What they did
Ten women with panic attacks (five with agoraphobia and five without) rated how bad their panic symptoms were every day, every week, and from memory at the end of one complete menstrual cycle.
What they found
When women looked back at the whole month, they reported substantial changes in symptom severity, with the premenstrual week being rated as most severe. However, daily and weekly ratings showed much smaller changes in the predicted premenstrual direction.
What it means for you
Looking back on a whole month may not give reliable information about when panic attacks actually happen. Women might think symptoms were worse before menstruation when daily or weekly tracking suggests they were not as much worse. This raises questions about relying on memory alone to track whether panic symptoms change with the cycle. The study is very small.
10
women with panic attacks
5
women with agoraphobia
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual fluctuation in the symptoms of panic anxiety
- Authors
- Cameron OG, Kuttesch D, McPhee K et al.
- Journal
- Journal of affective disorders
- Year
- 1988
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- None - this was an observational study
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(88)90086-9
Topics
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