Interview study, 1995
What is the difference in menstrual cycle symptoms between women with and without premenstrual symptoms?
Both groups experienced more physical symptoms in the days before their period, but only women with premenstrual symptoms experienced increased mood symptoms during that time. Women with premenstrual symptoms had higher scores for both mood and physical symptoms overall.
What they did
30 women seeking treatment for premenstrual symptoms and 19 women without premenstrual symptoms provided daily symptom reports across three menstrual cycles. Researchers used ovulation timing to standardize each cycle into 14 time points so they could compare the groups fairly. They combined 22 different mood symptoms into one score and 29 physical symptoms into two scores.
What they found
Both groups showed increased physical symptom scores in the days before their period. However, only the group with premenstrual symptoms showed increased mood symptom scores during that time. The control group did not show this mood pattern. The premenstrual symptom group had clearly higher scores on all three symptom factors compared to the control group. The symptom scores were consistent across all three cycles, suggesting these are reliable patterns.
What it means for you
The main difference between women with premenstrual symptoms and those without is that their mood changes are linked to their cycle, not just that they have more symptoms overall. The study was relatively small and tracked only three cycles.
30
women with premenstrual symptoms
19
control women
3
menstrual cycles tracked
About the study
- Original title
- The inter-relationship of premenstrual symptoms
- Authors
- Mira M, Abraham S, McNeil D et al.
- Journal
- Psychological medicine
- Year
- 1995
- Study design
- Interview study
- Participants
- 19
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1017/s0033291700037430
Topics
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