Psychophysiological responses in women reporting severe premenstrual symptoms.

Akker, Olga van den; Steptoe, Andrew

doi:10.1097/00006842-198905000-00006

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Symptoms need to be rated daily over at least two months to confirm the diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Some studies show higher heart rate, greater skin conductance, or greater norepinephrine levels throughout the menstrual cycle (Palmero and Choliz, 1991; Asso and Magos, 1992; Girdler et al, 1998) or just in the late-luteal phase in women with severe PMS (Woods et al, 1994) and others show no differences in these measures compared to controls (Van den Akker and Steptoe, 1987, 1989; Girdler et al, 1993). Studies of HRV in PMS have also produced inconsistent results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomic regulation across phases of the menstrual cycle and sleep stages in women with premenstrual syndrome and healthy controls

Zambotti

Nicholas

Colrain

et al. 2013

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Summary To investigate the influence of menstrual cycle phase and the presence of severe premenstrual symptoms on cardiac autonomic control during sleep, we performed heart rate variability (HRV) analysis during stable non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and REM sleep in 12 women with severe premenstrual syndrome and 14 controls in the mid-follicular, mid-luteal, and late-luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Heart rate was higher, along with lower high frequency (HF) power, reflecting reduced vagal activity, and a higher ratio of low frequency (LF) to high frequency power, reflecting a shift to sympathetic dominance, in REM sleep compared with NREM sleep in both groups of women. Both groups of women had higher heart rate during NREM and REM sleep in the luteal phase recordings compared with the mid-follicular phase. HF power in REM sleep was lowest in the mid-luteal phase, when progesterone was highest, in both groups of women. The mid-luteal phase reduction in HF power was also evident in NREM sleep in control women but not in women with PMS, suggesting some impact of premenstrual syndrome on autonomic responses to the hormone environment of the mid-luteal phase. In addition, mid-luteal phase progesterone levels correlated with HF power and LF/HF ratio in control women in NREM sleep and with the LF/HF ratio during REM sleep in both groups of women. Our findings suggest the involvement of female reproductive steroids in cardiac autonomic control during sleep in women with and without premenstrual syndrome.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomic regulation across phases of the menstrual cycle and sleep stages in women with premenstrual syndrome and healthy controls

Zambotti

Nicholas

Colrain

et al. 2013

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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“…Girdler et al (3) reported that women with PMDD had greater norepinephrine levels than control women both while quietly resting, and when under experimental stress conditions, regardless of menstrual phase, suggesting greater sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in the PMDD women. One study (4) reported that women with PMS have a higher resting heart rate than controls in the late-luteal phase, consistent with altered autonomic nervous system function, but others have failed to replicate this effect (5,6). Measures of skin conductance, used as an index of sympathetic tone, have also produced conflicting results, with some studies reporting greater skin conductance in women with PMS (7), others reporting no difference between women with PMS and controls (8), and yet others reporting higher levels of skin conductance pre-menses than post-menses in women with PMS, an effect opposite to that seen in controls (9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced parasympathetic activity during sleep in the symptomatic phase of severe premenstrual syndrome

Baker

Colrain

Trinder

2008

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

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Objective-Severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common, distressing disorder in women that manifests during the premenstrual (late-luteal) phase of the ovulatory menstrual cycle. There is some evidence that altered autonomic function may be an important component of PMS but few studies have used heart rate variability (HRV), as a sensitive marker of autonomic activity, in severe PMS and findings are conflicting.Methods-We investigated HRV during sleep, a state relatively free of external disruptions, in nine women with severe PMS and twelve controls.Results-The normal-to-normal (NN) RR-interval was shorter during the sleep period in women with PMS than in controls in both the follicular and late-luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. The standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN), a measure of total variability in the inter-beat interval, was lower during the sleep period in the late-luteal phase than in the follicular phase in women with PMS. The square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals (rMSSD), a measure reflecting high frequency activity, showed a similar pattern. High frequency power, a marker of parasympathetic activity, was lower during non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) and REM sleep in the late-luteal phase than in the follicular phase in women with severe PMS. Controls had a shorter NN-interval, but similar HRV measures, in the late-luteal phase compared with the follicular phase.Conclusion-These results suggest that women with severe PMS have decreased parasympathetic activity during sleep in association with their premenstrual symptoms compared to when they are symptom-free.

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“…The most common emotional problems are anxiety, hostility and depression. Physical symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, sweating disorders, palpitation, dizziness and vomiting suggest autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance [2, 5, 10, 12,14,25,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympathetic skin response in premenstrual syndrome

et al. 2005

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Premenstrual syndrome is a term which includes a broad group of emotional, behavioral and physical symptoms that occur for several days before menses and subside following the menstrual period. Many women experience premenstrual syndrome symptoms, particularly physical ones such as breast tenderness and swelling. Approximately 5-10% women suffer from severe premenstrual syndrome and another 30-40% have moderate symptoms. Premenstrual syndrome continues to be an unsolved problem. In this study, we evaluated 24 premenstrual syndrome patients and 20 healthy women in the control group. The ages of the women were 22-34 years (mean +/- SD: 25+/-3) for the premenstrual syndrome group and 23-34 (25+/-3) for the control group. The sympathetic skin response was recorded from the palms, soles and genital regions by using electrical stimuli to the median nerve at the wrist. The sympathetic skin response was recorded twice, in the follicular and late luteal phases of menstruation. The follicular and late luteal phase sympathetic skin response of the two groups were compared. The amplitudes and latency values of the late luteal and follicular phase sympathetic skin response from the premenstrual syndrome group and control group women were statistically similar. We also did not find any latency or amplitude difference in the sympathetic skin response obtained from the three regions of the premenstrual syndrome patients and the control group. We checked sympathetic skin response in the symptomatic (late luteal phase) and asymptomatic (follicular phase) periods of patients with premenstrual syndrome, a disorder known to have many autonomic symptoms, to determine whether there was sudomotor sympathetic involvement. The results of our PMS patients indicate at the very least that there is no difference with the control subjects as regards peripheral sudomotor functions.

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Psychophysiological responses in women reporting severe premenstrual symptoms.

Cited by 23 publications

References 24 publications

Autonomic regulation across phases of the menstrual cycle and sleep stages in women with premenstrual syndrome and healthy controls

Autonomic regulation across phases of the menstrual cycle and sleep stages in women with premenstrual syndrome and healthy controls

Reduced parasympathetic activity during sleep in the symptomatic phase of severe premenstrual syndrome

Sympathetic skin response in premenstrual syndrome

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