Does inflammation contribute to premenstrual symptoms?

Does inflammation contribute to premenstrual symptoms?
Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

Women with premenstrual symptoms (PMS) including mood swings, weight gain/bloating, and abdominal cramps/back pain have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Establishing a link between inflammation and PMS would have important implications for treatment and prevention using anti-inflammatory agents and for cardiovascular disease risk reduction, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health.

Ellen Gold, PhD and coauthors, University of California, Davis, analyzed data collected on a racially and ethnically diverse group of midlife women as part of the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). In the article "The Association of Inflammation with Premenstrual Symptoms" , the researchers report a significant association between a level of high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) >3 mg/L with four of the five mood and physical symptoms evaluated.

In the accompanying Editorial entitled "Chronic Inflammation and Premenstrual Syndrome: A Missing Link Found?", Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, ScD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, states: "Establishing PMS as an inflammatory condition suggests that PMS may be a useful sentinel of future chronic disease risk...This intriguing possibility also suggests that treatment of premenstrual symptoms with therapies targeting inflammation could have positive impacts on long-term chronic disease risk."

"The majority of women experience at least some . Recognizing an underlying inflammatory basis for PMS would open the door to additional treatment and prevention options and create a new opportunity for long-term risk intervention," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

More information: Ellen B. Gold et al, The Association of Inflammation with Premenstrual Symptoms, Journal of Women's Health (2016). DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2015.5529

Journal information: Journal of Women's Health
Citation: Does inflammation contribute to premenstrual symptoms? (2016, June 16) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-inflammation-contribute-premenstrual-symptoms.html
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