Pituitary-adrenal hormones and testosterone across the menstrual cycle in women with premenstrual syndrome and controls

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a cyclic mood disorder, widely believed yet not conclusively shown, to be of endocrine etiology. This study examines basal levels of several hormones reported, albeit inconsistently: to differ in women with PMS compared with controls, Methods: Subjects (10 PMS patients and 10 controls) had their blood drawn for one full menstrual cycle. Subjects' mood and behavioral symptoms were assessed by daily self-ratings and objective ratings, Plasma was assayed for total and free testosterone (T), beta-endolphin (P-EP), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and cortisol. Results: No differences were observed between the PMS and control groups for P-EP, ACTH, or cortisol. PMS subjects had significantly lower total and free T plasma levels with a blunting of the normal periovulatory peak, a finding that may be epiphenomenal to age. Conclusions: This study does not confirm previous reports of abnormalities in plasma levels of either ACTH or P-EP in women with PMS; it also fails to replicate a previous observation of high free T levels in women with PMS. These results are not supportive of a primary endocrine abnormality in PMS patients. Published 1998 Society of Biological Psychiatry.