Cohort study, 1996
Do PMS mood swings really rise before a period, or is that just how we remember it?
In this small study, physical symptoms like fatigue, pain and breast tenderness were confirmed to rise around the period, but mood swings and irritability were not confirmed when tracked day by day, even though women recalled them as worse premenstrually when asked after the fact.
What they did
Researchers studied 16 Chinese women in an urban area of southeastern China. The women filled out a one-time recall questionnaire (the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire) about their usual symptoms, and also kept a daily diary (the Daily Health Diary) tracking symptoms every day across the cycle.
What they found
On the daily diary, scores were significantly higher around the period (p < .03) for fatigue, sensitivity to cold, increased sleeping, abdominal pain or discomfort, painful or tender breasts, and decreased sexual desire. Women who had worse physical symptoms on the daily diary also tended to recall worse physical symptoms on the one-time questionnaire. But for mood symptoms, 13% to 25% of women recalled severe mood swings and irritability around their period on the one-time questionnaire, yet the daily diaries showed no statistical link between these mood symptoms and the cycle phase.
What it means for you
Physical symptoms like fatigue and breast tenderness do seem to genuinely cluster around the period, but how we remember mood symptoms afterward may not match what actually happens day to day. This matches findings from US studies, but the sample here was only 16 women, so it cannot tell us how common this pattern is more broadly.
16
women studied
p < .03
significance for physical symptoms on daily diary
13% to 25%
recalled severe mood swings/irritability around period
About the study
- Original title
- Perimenstrual symptoms among Chinese women in an urban area of China
- Authors
- Yu M, Zhu X, Li J et al.
- Journal
- Health care for women international
- Year
- 1996
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 16
- What was tested
- None (observational comparison of recall questionnaire vs daily diary)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1080/07399339609516230
Topics
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