DISTRIBUTION OF POSITIVE MOODS IN WOMEN WITH THE PREMENSTRUAL-SYNDROME AND IN NORMAL WOMEN

A daily mood record was kept by 44 women presenting with PMS (PMS(+) g roup: 133 menstrual cycles) and by 48 normal women (PMS(-) group: 100 cycles). Peaks of maximum positive mood were located after fitting eit her a 5-term or a 3-term Fourier series to the data. In the PMS(+) gro up mood peaks were clustered to a significant degree (p<0.001) around day 11 in a 28-day menstrual cycle (95% confidence interval: days 10-1 2); this is the time of the pre-ovulatory oestrogen surge. In the PMS - group clustering was insignificant. Menstrual cycle parameters were similar in the two groups (PMS(+) vs. PMS(-): mean duration cycle, 27. 6 +/- 3.2(SD) vs, 26.7 +/- 2.5 days; incidence ovulatory cycles, 95.5 vs. 93.0%). The evidence suggests either that the ovarian hormone cycl e has no effect on mood, or that it has an effect only in women with P MS.