Lab study, 2020
Are there different types of PMDD based on when symptoms appear and disappear?
Yes. Some women have PMDD symptoms only in the week before their period, others have severe symptoms for the full two weeks before menstruation, and others have premenstrual symptoms that take a long time to improve.
What they did
Followed 74 women with PMDD daily across 23 days of their menstrual cycle: 14 days before their period started through 9 days after. They tracked emotional and physical symptoms in different cycle phases.
What they found
Three main patterns appeared: 65% had moderate symptoms only in the premenstrual week, 17.5% had severe symptoms across the full 2 weeks of the luteal phase, and 17.5% had severe symptoms in the premenstrual week that were slow to resolve.
What it means for you
Women with PMDD may experience it in three different patterns. This might matter for treatment because different patterns could need different approaches. The main limit: only 74 women were studied.
74
Women with PMDD studied
65%
Moderate symptoms only in premenstrual week
17.5%
Severe symptoms across full 2 weeks
About the study
- Original title
- Are there temporal subtypes of premenstrual dysphoric disorder?: using group-based trajectory modeling to identify individual differences in symptom change
- Authors
- Eisenlohr-Moul TA, Kaiser G, Weise C et al.
- Journal
- Psychological medicine
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Lab study
- Participants
- 74
- What was tested
- No intervention - observational study tracking natural cycle
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1017/s0033291719000849
Topics
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