---
title: Does premenstrual tension change as women age? | Niyora
description: In 9 women followed for 8 years, premenstrual symptoms showed little change in how common they were or how severe they were.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/symptom-cyclicity-in-women-with-the-premenstrual-syndrome-an-8-year-follow-up-1992/
---

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- Does premenstrual tension change as women age?

Cohort study, 1992

# Does premenstrual tension change as women age?

In 9 women followed for 8 years, premenstrual symptoms showed little change in how common they were or how severe they were.

 Early or limited evidence

Nine women with premenstrual syndrome followed over 8 years

## What they did

Nine women with premenstrual tension kept daily records of 8 psychological and 5 physical symptoms for 3 menstrual cycles in 1982. They repeated this same tracking in 1990. Researchers analyzed symptom patterns using Fourier analysis and collected urine samples for hormone analysis.

## What they found

All 9 women continued to have regular menstrual cycles in 1990. There was little change in how common premenstrual tension was or in its severity from 1982 to 1990. Statistical tests showed no significant change for psychological symptoms (p=0.43) or physical symptoms (p=0.52).

## What it means for you

For the women studied, PMS did not appear to improve or worsen with age over an 8-year period. The main limitation is the very small sample size of only 9 women, which makes it difficult to generalize these results.

9

women followed over time

8 years

time between measurements

3

menstrual cycles tracked in each period

## About the study

Original title Symptom cyclicity in women with the premenstrual syndrome: an 8-year follow-up study Authors Metcalf MG, Braiden V, Livesey JH Journal Journal of psychosomatic research Year 1992 Study design Cohort study What was tested None. Symptom tracking only. Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(92)90088-j](https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(92)90088-j)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)

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