Survey study, 1986
Does premenstrual syndrome make bulimia symptoms, like binge eating, worse at certain times of the month?
No. The study found a premenstrual pattern of mood and physical changes in some women with bulimia, but these changes were not linked to changes in binge eating or other food-related behaviors.
What they did
Researchers followed 45 women who met strict diagnostic criteria for bulimia for 9 weeks. Each day the women recorded their symptoms without knowing the study's hypotheses, so their answers would not be biased.
What they found
Eight of the 45 women showed a premenstrual pattern of mood and physical complaints, but these changes were unrelated to changes in binging or other eating problem behaviors. Separately, 10 women (22.2%) showed a cyclothymic behavior pattern, and this group tended to have an earlier age of onset of bulimia.
What it means for you
For these women, premenstrual mood changes and bulimia symptoms seemed to run on separate tracks rather than one driving the other. The study was small, had no comparison group of women without bulimia, and only looked at 9 weeks, so it cannot show whether this holds true more broadly or over longer time.
45
Women followed
8
Women with premenstrual pattern
22.2%
Women with cyclothymic pattern
About the study
- Original title
- The symptoms of bulimia and the menstrual cycle
- Authors
- Leon GR, Phelan PW, Kelly JT et al.
- Journal
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Year
- 1986
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 45
- What was tested
- No treatment tested; daily self-recording of mood, physical symptoms, and eating behavior over 9 weeks.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1097/00006842-198607000-00003
Topics
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