Case-control study, 2025
Do certain hormone-related brain chemicals predict how bad premenstrual depression and anxiety will be?
In this small study, women with a PMDD-like condition had higher levels of a calming hormone (allopregnanolone) early in the cycle, and higher levels of it predicted worse later depression and anxiety. The sample is small, so this is an early finding, not a proven cause.
What they did
Researchers studied 9 women with menstrually related mood disorder (diagnosed using daily symptom tracking and PMDD criteria) and 14 healthy women. They measured depression and anxiety scores and blood levels of neuroactive steroids (hormone-related brain chemicals) at three points in the cycle: mid-follicular, mid-luteal, and late luteal.
What they found
As expected, depression was worse in the mood-disorder group only in the late luteal (premenstrual) phase. In the mid-follicular phase, average allopregnanolone levels and the allopregnanolone-to-progesterone ratio were higher in the mood-disorder group than controls; there was no group difference in luteal-phase allopregnanolone. Higher follicular-phase allopregnanolone and allopregnanolone sulfate predicted greater depression in the mid- and late-luteal phases and greater anxiety in the late-luteal phase.
What it means for you
Allopregnanolone normally has antidepressant effects, so this early-cycle rise may be the body trying to compensate for later premenstrual depression and anxiety, or it could paradoxically help trigger those symptoms later. With only 9 women in the mood-disorder group, this needs confirmation in larger studies before any practical use.
9
Women with mood disorder
14
Healthy controls
3
Cycle phases measured
About the study
- Original title
- Neuroactive steroid levels are elevated in the follicular phase and predict premenstrual depression and anxiety symptom severity in women with menstrually related mood disorder
- Authors
- Kimball A, Bourassa J, Chicote ML et al.
- Journal
- Archives of women's mental health
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Case-control study
- What was tested
- No treatment tested; hormone levels and mood were measured, not manipulated
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s00737-024-01532-3
Topics
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