Stress reactivity and emotion in premenstrual syndrome

BACKGROUND: Hormone level fluctuation across the menstrual cycle causes women to experience negative emotions and also affects their mood regulation and stress sensitivity. However, the stress reactivity and emotional variations in women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), who are especially sensitive to the variations in hormone cycles, have not been explained. METHODS: The present study used an electroencephalogram (EEG) stress evaluation test, a physiology stress evaluation test, and the positive affect and negative affect scale (PANAS) to evaluate the stress reactivity pattern and emotional state of women with PMS. RESULTS: The results showed that women with PMS had higher negative affect and lower positive affect compared with controls. Moreover, under stressful conditions, the women with PMS had a higher alpha activity and a lower respiration rate than the controls. The differences in stress reactivity and emotional states between women with PMS and controls were based on a covariant analysis with menstrual cycle (luteal and follicular phases) as the covariate. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that, compared with controls, women suffering from PMS have a continuous abnormality in emotional state and stress reactivity, which was independent of the menstrual cycle.