Cohort study, 1986
How common are symptoms linked to the menstrual cycle?
At least 40% of women experience some symptoms tied to their menstrual cycle. Only 2% to 10% report severe symptoms. When women remember their symptoms later, they may report more variation than they reported as it was happening.
What they did
Review of published research on how common menstrual cycle-related symptoms are, comparing what women remember later with what they reported as it happened.
What they found
At least 40% of women experience cyclical symptoms. Most rate them as mild. About 2% to 10% report severe symptoms. Women with moderate to severe symptoms accurately remember them. Women with few or minimal symptoms tend to report more variation in their memory than in real-time reports.
What it means for you
Cyclical symptoms are common but women's memories may be shaped by expectations rather than actual day-to-day experience. This is a review of existing studies, not new data collection.
40%
Minimum percentage with cyclical symptoms
2-10%
Percentage reporting severe symptoms
About the study
- Original title
- Perimenstrual symptoms: prevalence and risk factors
- Authors
- Logue CM, Moos RH
- Journal
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Year
- 1986
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198607000-00002
Topics
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