Survey study, 2026
Do women with PMDD and PMS have worse attention and decision-making than healthy women?
Yes. Women with PMDD show the poorest performance on attention and decision-making tasks, followed by women with PMS, then healthy women. The differences appear linked to how severe symptoms are.
What they did
Cross-sectional comparison study of 150 female university students aged 20 to 35, divided into three groups: PMS, PMDD, and healthy controls. Researchers tested sustained attention, impulse control, and decision-making using three computerized tasks during both premenstrual and postmenstrual phases.
What they found
The PMDD group consistently showed lower performance than PMS and control groups in sustained attention, inhibitory control, and risky decision-making. Women with PMS showed a decline in sustained attention only during the premenstrual phase, while PMDD and control groups showed no significant changes across cycle phases.
What it means for you
Women with PMDD and PMS may experience real difficulties with focus, impulse control, and making decisions, which could explain concentration problems some report. The main limits are that this was a small study from a single university, cross-sectional, and used purposive sampling.
150
Participants
20-35
Age range in years
3
Groups compared
About the study
- Original title
- Transdiagnostic neuropsychological factors in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder and premenstrual syndrome: a comparison of the premenstrual and postmenstrual phases
- Authors
- Torabi R, Nasiri F, Rahmani F
- Journal
- Archives of women's mental health
- Year
- 2026
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 150
- What was tested
- None - observational study
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s00737-026-01684-4
Topics
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