Non-randomised trial, 2000
Do psychiatric hospital admissions happen more often at certain menstrual cycle phases?
57% of admissions happened during the pre-menstrual or menstrual phase, but this link was only statistically significant for cycloid psychoses, a rare type of psychosis. For most other psychiatric conditions, the menstrual cycle did not affect admission timing.
What they did
They looked at 155 women admitted to hospital for psychiatric disorders and recorded which phase of their menstrual cycle each woman was in when admitted. Diagnoses were assigned without knowing the cycle phase.
What they found
57% of all admissions occurred during the pre-menstrual or menstrual period. Most psychiatric conditions, including depression and schizophrenia, showed no significant link to cycle phase. However, women with cycloid psychoses were significantly more often admitted during the luteal/menstrual phase compared to women with schizophrenia (p = 0.02).
What it means for you
For most psychiatric conditions, the menstrual cycle doesn't predict when symptoms become severe enough to need hospitalisation. Only cycloid psychosis, which is rare, showed a clear connection. The main limitation is this was a small retrospective study from one hospital.
155
women
57%
admitted during pre-menstrual or menstrual phase
0.02
p-value for cycloid psychoses
About the study
- Original title
- [The effect of the menstruation cycle on manifestations of pychiatric diseases]
- Authors
- Althaus G, Pfuhlmann B, Franzek E
- Journal
- Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie
- Year
- 2000
- Study design
- Non-randomised trial
- Participants
- 155
- What was tested
- Observed menstrual cycle phase at hospital admission
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1055/s-2000-11801
Topics
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