---
title: In women who report PMS, which symptoms actually follow a monthly pattern?
description: Most women with a history of PMS show typical symptom patterns when tracked daily. Water retention, mood changes, and pain are the most severe symptoms.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/trend-analysis-of-the-symptoms-of-150-women-with-a-history-of-the-premenstrual-1986/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- In women who report PMS, which symptoms actually follow a monthly pattern?

Interview study, 1986

# In women who report PMS, which symptoms actually follow a monthly pattern?

Most women with a history of PMS show typical symptom patterns when tracked daily. Water retention, mood changes, and pain are the most severe symptoms.

 Moderate study design

150 untreated women with a history of PMS

## What they did

Researchers analyzed daily symptom records from 150 women with a PMS history. Women reported their symptoms using a standardized questionnaire, and researchers used statistical methods to look for patterns across the menstrual cycle.

## What they found

Between 60.7% and 85.3% of women showed symptom patterns matching PMS (the percentage varied by symptom type). More than 80% showed the pattern for three or more different symptom clusters, and 32% showed it for all symptoms studied. Water retention, mood problems, and pain were the three most severe symptom clusters.

## What it means for you

Women's memories of having PMS usually match what they actually report day-by-day, suggesting that PMS reports are generally reliable. This was observational only, so it doesn't explain what causes these patterns.

150

women studied

80%+

had patterns for 3+ symptom clusters

32%

showed patterns for all symptoms

## About the study

Original title Trend analysis of the symptoms of 150 women with a history of the premenstrual syndrome Authors Magos AL, Brincat M, Studd JW Journal American journal of obstetrics and gynecology Year 1986 Study design Interview study Participants 150 What was tested None Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(86)90808-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(86)90808-2)

## 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

↗