---
title: What makes some women with PMS see a doctor while others don't?
description: No. Women who see a doctor for PMS don't have worse symptoms than those who don't, but they do have higher levels of psychological problems.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/psychological-correlates-of-medical-utilization-in-women-with-premenstrual-1990/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- What makes some women with PMS see a doctor while others don't?

Survey study, 1990

# What makes some women with PMS see a doctor while others don't?

No. Women who see a doctor for PMS don't have worse symptoms than those who don't, but they do have higher levels of psychological problems.

 Early or limited evidence

40 women in the community who identified as having PMS

## What they did

Asked 40 women who identified as having PMS about their symptoms and gave them psychological assessments.

## What they found

Women who visited a doctor for PMS had similar symptom levels to those who didn't, but those who visited had higher levels of psychological problems.

## What it means for you

Psychological well-being, not symptom severity, may influence whether women seek medical help for PMS. The main limitation is the small sample size and that this was done in one location at one time.

40

women studied

## About the study

Original title Psychological correlates of medical utilization in women with premenstrual complaints Authors Patricia A. Lipscomb, Joan E. Russo, PETER PAUL VITALIANO Journal Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology Year 1990 Study design Survey study Participants 40 Read the paper [doi.org/10.3109/01674829009084409](https://doi.org/10.3109/01674829009084409)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗