Mood cyclicity in women with an without the premenstrual syndrome.

A daily record of seven mood states was kept (a) by 44 women self-selected as having the premenstrual syndrome (PMS+ group, 133 menstrual cycles) and (b) by 48 women self-selected as not having PMS (PMS- group, 100 cycles). Mood patterns were analysed after fitting the data to a 5-term Fourier series. PMS+ women differed significantly from PMS- women in (i) the self-rating of PMS at interview (62.1 +/- 2.8 (SE) vs 8.8 +/- 1.2), (ii) the incidence of significant mood swings (present in 76.7 vs 54.0% of cycles, (iii) the incidence of premenstrual tension (PMT present in 69.9% vs 8.0% of cycles), (iv) the score for PMT severity (96.0 +/- 12.6 vs 4.1 +/- 5.2), (v) the background mood score (31.6 +/- 10.0 vs 23.6 +/- 12.0). It is concluded that significant mood changes occur both in women with PMS and in women without PMS, but that the changes are larger and the dysphoria concentrated in the premenstrual period in the PMS+ group. In PMS- women dysphoria occurred sporadically and was not confined to the premenstruum.