---
title: How common are premenstrual mood symptoms like irritability and tension in women?
description: In this community study, about 1 in 5 women had moderate or severe perimenstrual psychological symptoms, and irritability, nervousness and tension stood out a
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-epidemiology-of-perimenstrual-psychological-symptoms-2001/
---

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- How common are premenstrual mood symptoms like irritability and tension in women?

Cohort study, 2001

# How common are premenstrual mood symptoms like irritability and tension in women?

In this community study, about 1 in 5 women had moderate or severe perimenstrual psychological symptoms, and irritability, nervousness and tension stood out as the core symptoms, whether or not depressed mood was also present.

 Moderate study design

299 women in a community followed from ages 21 to 35.

## What they did

Researchers followed a representative community sample of 299 women, interviewing them five times as they aged from 21 to 35. At each interview they assessed premenstrual and menstrual physical and psychological symptoms.

## What they found

8.1% of women had severe perimenstrual syndrome (PERI-MS) and 13.6% had moderate PERI-MS. Women with PERI-MS who also had depressed mood showed greater severity on all clinical indicators than those without depressed mood.

## What it means for you

Irritability, nervousness and tension seem to be the central features of perimenstrual syndrome, regardless of whether depressed mood is also present. This is an observational study with no treatment tested and no control group, so it describes how common symptoms are rather than what causes or fixes them.

8.1%

Women with severe perimenstrual syndrome

13.6%

Women with moderate perimenstrual syndrome

N=299

Women in the study

## About the study

Original title The epidemiology of perimenstrual psychological symptoms Authors Angst J, Sellaro R, Merikangas KR et al. Journal Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica Year 2001 Study design Cohort study Participants 299 What was tested None tested; this was an observational study measuring how common premenstrual and menstrual symptoms were. Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0447.2001.00412.x](https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0447.2001.00412.x)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)

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.

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