Cohort study, 1991
Do women who think they have PMS often have other psychiatric conditions too?
In this very small study, most women who came in complaining of PMS had a lifetime history of some psychiatric illness, and only a minority actually met strict criteria for PMS. This suggests careful psychiatric evaluation is needed, but the study is far too small to generalize.
What they did
Researchers studied 20 women who came in with a complaint of "PMS." They were interviewed with a structured lifetime psychiatric interview (SADS-L) and also kept daily symptom diaries (Moos MDQ-T) to check whether they actually met strict criteria for PMS.
What they found
Of the 20 women, 85% had a lifetime psychiatric illness, but only 30% actually met the strict criteria for PMS based on their symptom diaries.
What it means for you
Many women who believe they have PMS may actually have an underlying psychiatric condition instead of, or alongside, true PMS, so careful assessment matters. The study is extremely small (20 women), had no control group, and cannot show cause and effect.
20
Women studied
85%
Had lifetime psychiatric illness
30%
Actually met strict PMS criteria
About the study
- Original title
- Lifetime psychiatric illness and premenstrual syndromes
- Authors
- Chang G, Hutchinson-Williams KA
- Journal
- Connecticut medicine
- Year
- 1991
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 20
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1790705/
Topics
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