A recent study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine has found a positive association between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression in women. The research suggests that women affected by premenstrual disorders are at a higher risk of developing perinatal depression compared to those who do not experience such disorders. Conversely, women who have perinatal depression are also more likely to develop premenstrual disorders following pregnancy and childbirth. This bidirectional relationship indicates a potential common mechanism that contributes to both conditions.
Menstruating women go through cyclical hormone fluctuations during various stages of their lives, such as puberty, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause. Some women experience challenging symptoms of low mood and depression during these hormonal changes. Studies show that between one-fifth and one-third of women are affected by premenstrual disorders, while around 11% of mothers suffer from perinatal depression, which includes depressive symptoms during pregnancy and up to a year after delivery.
Researchers, led by Qian Yang from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and University of Iceland, utilized the Swedish nationwide registers spanning from 2001 to 2018 to analyze 84,949 women with perinatal depression and 849,482 unaffected women.
The study involved matching the women based on age and calendar year, while also controlling for demographic factors, smoking, BMI, parity, and a history of psychiatric disorders.
Results showed that nearly 3% of women with perinatal depression had premenstrual disorders before pregnancy, compared to only 0.6% of unaffected women in the control group. Furthermore, women with perinatal depression were twice as likely to report premenstrual disorders once their menstruation resumed after childbirth, compared to women without perinatal depression.
The findings of this research shed light on the association between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression, hinting at potential shared underlying biological mechanisms and risk factors between the two conditions. Understanding this link could assist healthcare providers in offering more targeted support to women who are more likely to be affected by these disorders.
The authors of the study highlighted the strong bidirectional relationship between perinatal depression and premenstrual disorders, utilizing data from over 900,000 pregnancies. They emphasized that both disorders may exist on a continuum and stressed the importance of identifying these vulnerabilities in clinical practice for better management and support.