Cohort study, 2000
How many women in a regular population experience menstrual cycle-related symptom changes?
About 45% of women experience symptom changes between menstrual phases. However, the patterns vary widely. About 27% have patterns opposite to typical PMS symptoms. Daily tracking is necessary to know what actually happens for each person.
What they did
A prospective cohort study. 73 women tracked 57 different symptoms across 2 to 6 of their menstrual cycles. Researchers compared symptom severity between the follicular and luteal phases.
What they found
45% experienced recurrent symptom changes in at least one symptom. 23% experienced changes in at least one symptom group. 18% consistently showed a PMS-like pattern with higher symptoms in the luteal phase. The remaining 27% showed varying patterns or reverse PMS patterns. Average severity did not vary significantly between cycles.
What it means for you
Symptom cyclicity is common but varied. Many women do not show a clear PMS pattern, and some show the opposite. This means individual daily tracking is necessary to understand each woman's pattern. The sample was limited to 73 women from one location.
45%
Experienced symptom cyclicity in at least one symptom across cycles
23%
Experienced cyclicity in at least one symptom group
18%
Showed consistent PMS-like pattern
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual cycle symptom variation in a community sample of women using and not using oral contraceptives
- Authors
- Sveinsdóttir H, Bäckström T
- Journal
- Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica
- Year
- 2000
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- None (observational study)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1080/00016340009169190
Topics
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