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Systematic review, 2015

What are the effects of continuous hormonal treatments for premenstrual syndrome?

The systematic overview evaluated continuous combined oral contraceptives, continuous transdermal estradiol, and continuous subcutaneous estradiol implants, but the abstract does not specify the efficacy results for each treatment.

Strong study design Women with premenstrual syndrome

What they did

Systematic overview searching Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and other databases through April 2014 for studies on continuous hormonal treatments for PMS. Screened for inclusion, appraised quality, and performed GRADE evaluation for three treatment categories.

What they found

Search retrieved 132 studies. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, 1 systematic review and 3 RCTs were added to the overview. The efficacy for three interventions was evaluated: continuous combined oral contraceptives, continuous transdermal estradiol, and continuous subcutaneous estradiol implants.

What it means for you

This overview focuses on hormone-based continuous treatments for PMS. The abstract notes that lack of consensus on symptom severity assessment and the cyclical nature of PMS make it difficult to conduct and compare research across studies.

132

Studies retrieved from databases

4

Studies added (1 systematic review, 3 RCTs)

3

Types of continuous hormonal treatment evaluated

About the study

Original title
Premenstrual syndrome
Authors
Kwan I, Onwude JL
Journal
BMJ clinical evidence
Year
2015
Study design
Systematic review
What was tested
Continuous hormonal treatments (combined oral contraceptives, transdermal estradiol, subcutaneous estradiol implants)
Open access
Yes

Topics