Cohort study, 2017
How can doctors reliably diagnose PMDD using a standardized method?
A new scoring system called C-PASS accurately diagnoses PMDD when women track their symptoms daily for two or more months, matching expert clinician diagnoses 98% of the time.
What they did
Researchers created a scoring system (C-PASS) that turns daily symptom ratings into a PMDD diagnosis. They tested it on 200 women who reported premenstrual emotional symptoms by comparing C-PASS diagnosis to diagnoses made by expert clinicians.
What they found
C-PASS diagnosis matched expert clinical diagnosis 98% of the time. Women's memory of how bad their premenstrual symptoms were (guessing without daily tracking) was a poor predictor of whether they actually had PMDD.
What it means for you
This provides a clear, standardized way to diagnose PMDD that reduces confusion in research and clinical practice. It may help doctors diagnose PMDD more consistently. The main limit is that the study was relatively small and involved women specifically recruited for having premenstrual emotional symptoms, so findings may not apply to all women seeking a PMDD diagnosis.
200
Women evaluated
98%
Correct diagnosis rate
2-4 months
Duration of daily tracking
About the study
- Original title
- Toward the Reliable Diagnosis of DSM-5 Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: The Carolina Premenstrual Assessment Scoring System (C-PASS)
- Authors
- Eisenlohr-Moul TA, Girdler SS, Schmalenberger KM et al.
- Journal
- The American journal of psychiatry
- Year
- 2017
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- C-PASS diagnostic scoring system
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15121510
Topics
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