Case-control study, 2014
Is a certain gene linked to period symptoms and depression around pregnancy?
Possibly. Women with depression during or after pregnancy reported more frequent premenstrual and menstrual symptoms, and a specific gene variant (RAI1) was more common in them.
What they did
Researchers compared 139 women with confirmed depression related to pregnancy or postpartum to 540 women without it (based on a low depression screening score). They tested saliva DNA for a repeated sequence in the RAI1 gene and asked all women how often they had various premenstrual and menstrual symptoms.
What they found
Women with perinatal depression reported more frequent mood changes, cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and headache around their periods (p=0.000). The RAI1 gene repeat pattern differed between the two groups (p=0.031), and one specific version with 14 repeats was linked to perinatal depression (p=0.016).
What it means for you
A gene already linked to pregnancy-related depression may also be tied to having more period symptoms. Symptoms were self-reported and controls were screened only once, so the findings need confirming in other populations.
139
Women with perinatal depression
540
Comparison women
0.016
Link to 14-repeat gene variant (p)
About the study
- Original title
- Association of premenstrual/menstrual symptoms with perinatal depression and a polymorphic repeat in the polyglutamine tract of the retinoic acid induced 1 gene
- Authors
- Tan EC, Tan HS, Chua TE et al.
- Journal
- Journal of affective disorders
- Year
- 2014
- Study design
- Case-control study
- Participants
- 540
- What was tested
- Genetic testing of RAI1 gene repeat and self-reported symptom frequency (no treatment tested)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.03.006
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