Study, 1990
Do women with PMS experience more physical symptoms at different times of their cycle?
Yes. Women with PMS had noticeable physical symptom swings in 81.2% of their cycles compared to 33.0% in women without PMS. In the premenstrual phase, 80.5% of PMS cycles showed significant symptoms versus 24.0% in non-PMS women.
What they did
Forty-four women who reported having PMS and 48 women who reported not having PMS kept daily records of five physical symptoms. Researchers analyzed whether these symptoms changed in a pattern related to the menstrual cycle.
What they found
Women with PMS had significant physical symptom swings in 81.2% of their cycles, compared to 33.0% in women without PMS. In the premenstrual time, significant symptoms appeared in 80.5% of PMS cycles versus 24.0% in non-PMS cycles. The average severity of premenstrual symptoms was 1.37 in the PMS group and 0.27 in the non-PMS group. Hormone levels and the pattern of stomach cramps were similar between the two groups.
What it means for you
Women with PMS experience pronounced physical symptom swings tied to their cycle, much more than women without PMS. Similar hormone patterns suggest some physical symptoms may be normal, unlike emotional symptoms which seem specific to PMS. Main limit: women self-selected as having PMS rather than medically diagnosed.
81.2% vs 33.0%
cycles with significant symptom swings
80.5% vs 24.0%
premenstrual symptom cycles
1.37 vs 0.27
average symptom severity
About the study
- Original title
- Physical symptom cyclicity in women with and without the premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Metcalf MG, Livesey JH, Wells JE et al.
- Journal
- Journal of psychosomatic research
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 48
- What was tested
- None - observational daily symptom tracking
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(90)90054-8