Analysis of the Natural Variation of Women's Depressive Mood Across the Menstrual Cycle
Abstract
Despite the widely known assumption that women's mood fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, the assumption has been poorly supported by empirical evidence, and the effect of the menstrual cycle on women's depressive symptoms remains controversial and unknown. One of the main reasons for the paucity of evidence is the lack of scientific research devoted to a systematic examination of this phenomenon in a representative community-based sample of women. The purpose of this study is to examine if women's depressive mood is associated with their menstrual cycles in a community-based sample that is systematically and randomly collected. Daily mood and symptom data and urine specimens data were derived from the Women's Wellness Study(WWS). 1,246 participants in the Midwestern United States between the ages of 13 to 55 who have menstruations were included in the analysis. After controlling for age, marital status, income, education, employment status, and oral contraceptive use, a linear mixed model analysis was used to analyze cyclic changes of depressive moods across the menstrual cycle. Statistically significant changes were found for women's depressive symptoms across the menstrual cycle, and the symptom level during the premenstrual (late luteal) phase was significantly higher than that of the postmenstrual phase. The findings suggest that there is a statistically significant depressive mood change across the menstrual cycle even though further studies need to investigate the clinical significance of this mood change. The results imply that information on the menstrual cycle needs to be considered for research and clinical purposes in promoting women's mental health when measuring women's mental health parameters. Assessments of women's mental health without considering menstrual cycle information may result in inappropriate diagnostic decisions.
- keywords
- Women's mental health, Depressive mood, Menstrual cycle, 여성정신건강, 우울감정, 생리주기
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