Differences in cortisol, a stress hormone, in women with turmoil-type premenstrual symptoms.

BACKGROUND

A significant number of American women of childbearing age are troubled by premenstrual symptoms, but the underlying cause is not understood, resulting in inadequate therapy.

OBJECTIVES

To use basal levels of cortisol to differentiate women with low symptom (LS) patterns of turmoil-type premenstrual symptoms from women with premenstrual symptom (PMS) patterns and from women with premenstrual magnification (PMM) patterns of turmoil-type premenstrual symptoms.

METHOD

Symptom and cortisol patterns of women were monitored for three consecutive menstrual cycles. Three distinct groups of women were identified based on symptom patterns and types.

RESULTS

Significant differences in symptom severity among groups were observed during the follicular (F = 203; df= 2, 24; p < .0001) and luteal phases (F= 51.3; df= 2, 24; p< .0001) of the cycle. There were no statistically significant differences in cortisol among groups for the follicular phase, but there were during the luteal phase (F= 4.0; df= 2, 24; p= .03).

CONCLUSIONS

Altered regulation of the stress axis may be involved in mediating turmoil-type PMS.