Abstract
Objective: If premenstrual symptoms (PMS) are temporally and specifically associated with suicidal attempts, suicide attempts in women with PMS should occur more frequently in the luteal phase. Method: In a general hospital, 125 fertile female suicide attempters (and 83 blood donors as controls) with regular menstrual cycles were prospectively studied. A retrospective DSM-IV diagnosis of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) was made. Results: Attempts during the luteal phase were not more frequent in females with PMDD (34%, 23/68) than in those without PMDD (35%, 20/57). The sample had enough power to detect medium and large effect sizes. As expected, there was a significantly higher frequency of PMDD in suicide attempters than in the controls (54% vs 6%; Fisher's exact test, p ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: This study was limited by the use of retrospective PMDD diagnosis but suggests that PMDD may not be associated with suicidal acts during the luteal phase, when PMS are present.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 326-329 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience |
Volume | 254 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:■ Acknowledgments This study was supported by a 1999 Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) (Dr. Baca-Garcia) and a grant from the Spanish government (Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, FIS 01/0077–01).
Keywords
- Attempted suicide
- Menstrual cycle
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Suicide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry
- Pharmacology (medical)