Review, 2006
How do doctors tell PMS and PMDD apart from other conditions?
This review explains that diagnosing PMS and PMDD requires at least 2 months of tracking symptoms day by day, plus a full medical check to rule out other causes. There is no single quick test for either condition.
What they did
This is a review article, not a new study. It summarises published diagnostic criteria for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) from the American Psychiatric Association, and discusses how clinicians should diagnose them.
What they found
Both PMS and PMDD involve mood, physical and behavioural symptoms that appear in the late luteal phase (time before a period) and go away soon after bleeding starts. Official diagnosis needs 2 months of prospective symptom ratings, using either a clinician's own form or a validated questionnaire. Clinicians also need a full personal and family history of mental and physical illness, a physical exam, and basic lab tests to rule out other causes. The review notes many women with real, debilitating symptoms are never diagnosed, either because they don't mention symptoms to a doctor or because doctors find these conditions hard to diagnose.
What it means for you
If you think you have PMS or PMDD, tracking your symptoms daily for two cycles before seeing a doctor can help get an accurate diagnosis, since there is no blood test for it. The main limit is that this is a summary of existing guidelines from 2006, not new research, so it reflects older diagnostic standards and no data on how many women it applies to.
2
months of symptom tracking required for diagnosis
2006
year published
About the study
- Original title
- Diagnosis of premenstrual disorders
- Authors
- Futterman LA, Rapkin AJ
- Journal
- The Journal of reproductive medicine
- Year
- 2006
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- None (diagnostic review, no treatment tested).
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16734318/
Topics
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