Survey study, 2011
Is premenstrual syndrome inherited?
Yes. Genes control about 95% of PMS risk while environment controls only 5%. Identical twins are much more likely to both have PMS (81% match) than fraternal twins (67% match), showing a strong genetic effect.
What they did
Cross-sectional study of 176 same-gender twins and 17 women from opposite-sex twin pairs. Researchers measured whether women had PMS and used genetic modeling to calculate how much genes versus environment contributed.
What they found
PMS prevalence was 43.0% in identical twins and 46.8% in fraternal twins. Twin concordance for PMS was 0.81 in identical twins versus 0.67 in fraternal twins. Genetic modeling showed 95% of the difference was genetic and 5% was unique environment. No association was found with birth weight, breastfeeding, vaccination, or being in an opposite-sex twin pair.
What it means for you
If your twin has PMS, you are very likely to have it too because genes are the main driver. This does not mean lifestyle makes no difference, but genes determine most of the risk. The study is limited to twins and does not identify which genes matter or how they work.
95%
genetic contribution to PMS
0.81
concordance rate in identical twins
43.0%
PMS prevalence in identical twins
About the study
- Original title
- The heritability of premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Jahanfar S, Lye MS, Krishnarajah IS
- Journal
- Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
- Year
- 2011
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 176
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1375/twin.14.5.433