Romans Sarah, Clarkson Rose, Einstein Gillian, Petrovic Michele, Stewart Donna
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Wellington New Zealand.
Gend Med. 2012 Oct;9(5):361-84. doi: 10.1016/j.genm.2012.07.003.
The human menstrual cycle (MC) has historically been the focus of myth and misinformation, leading to ideas that constrain women's activities.
We wished to examine one pervasive idea, that the MC is a cause of negative mood, by studying the scientific literature as a whole. We briefly reviewed the history of the idea of premenstrual syndrome and undertook a systematic review of quality studies.
We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, and article bibliographies for published studies using non-help-seeking samples with daily mood data collected prospectively for a minimum of 1 complete MC. We critiqued their methodologies and tabulated the key findings.
Of 47 English language studies identified, 18 (38.3%) found no association of mood with any MC phase; 18 found an association of negative mood in the premenstrual phase combined with another MC phase; and only 7 (14.9%) found an association of negative mood and the premenstrual phase. Finally, the remaining 4 studies (8.5%) showed an association between negative mood and a non-premenstrual phase. Considering the only 41 adequately powered studies, the same phase links were reported by 36.6%, 41.5%, and 13.5% of studies, respectively. Their diversity of methods (sampling, instruments, and cycle phase definitions) precluded a meta-analysis.
Taken together, these studies failed to provide clear evidence in support of the existence of a specific premenstrual negative mood syndrome in the general population. This puzzlingly widespread belief needs challenging, as it perpetuates negative concepts linking female reproduction with negative emotionality.
人类月经周期（MC）历来是神话和错误信息的焦点，导致了一些限制女性活动的观念。
我们希望通过对整体科学文献的研究，审视一个普遍存在的观念，即月经周期是负面情绪的一个成因。我们简要回顾了经前综合征观念的历史，并对高质量研究进行了系统综述。
我们在PubMed、PsycINFO以及文章参考文献中搜索已发表的研究，这些研究使用的是非求助样本，且前瞻性收集了至少1个完整月经周期的每日情绪数据。我们对其方法进行了批判，并将关键发现制成表格。
在确定的47项英文研究中，18项（38.3%）发现情绪与月经周期的任何阶段均无关联；18项发现经前期与月经周期的另一个阶段相结合时存在负面情绪关联；只有7项（14.9%）发现负面情绪与经前期有关联。最后，其余4项研究（8.5%）显示负面情绪与非经前期阶段之间存在关联。考虑到仅有41项有足够效力的研究，分别有36.6%、41.5%和13.5%的研究报告了相同的阶段关联。它们在方法（抽样、工具和周期阶段定义）上的多样性使得无法进行荟萃分析。
总体而言，这些研究未能提供明确证据支持一般人群中存在特定的经前负面情绪综合征。这种令人费解的广泛观念需要受到挑战，因为它使将女性生殖与负面情绪联系起来的负面概念长期存在。
