Reproductive cycle-associated mood symptoms in women with major depression and bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
We sought to determine the prevalence of, and association between, reproductive cycle-associated mood symptoms in women with affective disorders. We hypothesized that symptoms would correlate with each other across a woman's reproductive life span in both major depression (MDD) and bipolar I disorder (BP).


METHODS
2412 women with, MDD or BP were asked standardized questions about mood symptoms prior to menstruation, within a month of childbirth and during perimenopause. Lifetime rates for each of these symptom types were determined and an odds ratio was calculated correlating each of the types with the others.


RESULTS
Of 2524 women with mood disorders, 67.7% reported premenstrual symptoms. Of those at risk, 20.9% reported postpartum symptoms and 26.4% reported perimenopausal symptoms. The rates did not differ between women with MDD and BP but were significantly different from women who were never ill. The symptoms were significantly correlated in women with MDD with odds ratios from 1.66 to 1.82, but were not in women with BP.


CONCLUSIONS
This is a secondary analysis of a sample that was collected for other purposes and is based upon retrospective reporting.


CONCLUSIONS
Reproductive cycle-associated mood symptoms were commonly reported in women with mood disorders and did not differ based on diagnosis. In MDD, but not BP, the occurrence of these symptoms was trait-like as the presence of one predicted the occurrence of the others. Further prospective study is required to clarify the determinants of this trait.
Payne
Jennifer L
JL
Department of Psychiatry, Women's Mood Disorders Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street/Meyer 3-181, Baltimore, MD 21287-7381, United States. jpayne5@jhmi.edu
Roy
Patricia S
PS
Murphy-Eberenz
Kathleen
K
Weismann
Myrna M
MM
Swartz
Karen L
KL
McInnis
Melvin G
MG
Nwulia
Eva
E
Mondimore
Francis M
FM
MacKinnon
Dean F
DF
Miller
Erin B
EB
Nurnberger
John I
JI
Levinson
Douglas F
DF
DePaulo
J Raymond
JR
Potash
James B
JB
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002979:Climacteric / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic