Study, 1986
What are the different patterns of symptoms before menstruation?
The study found five different patterns of premenstrual symptom changes among women. These patterns relate differently to whether women have a history of mood disorders.
What they did
64 women tracked 20 different measures of mood, behavior, and physical symptoms every day for one complete menstrual cycle. Researchers analyzed how these symptoms grouped together into distinct patterns.
What they found
Five distinct patterns of premenstrual change were identified. Women with a lifetime history of mood disorders related differently to these patterns compared to women without such a history.
What it means for you
This suggests that PMS might not be one single condition but rather multiple different patterns of symptom changes. Different women may have different symptom combinations. The main limitation is that the study followed women for only one menstrual cycle with a small group of 64 women.
64
women
20
measures of symptoms tracked
5
distinct patterns identified
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual changes: patterns and correlates of daily ratings
- Authors
- Endicott J, Nee J, Cohen J et al.
- Journal
- Journal of affective disorders
- Year
- 1986
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 64
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(86)90035-2
Topics
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