New research published in PLOS medical journal suggests that women who experience premenstrual disorders—including low mood and depression during their menstrual cycle—may face an increased risk of perinatal depression compared to those who do not.
But here’s the twist: the link goes both ways. Those dealing with perinatal depression are more likely to develop premenstrual disorder after pregnancy. This study indicates a shared underlying mechanism between the two conditions.
As women travel through puberty, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause, their bodies experience cyclical hormonal changes. For some, these changes can cause challenging symptoms such as depression.
Statistics show that between a fifth and a third of women struggle with premenstrual disorders, while 11 percent of mothers experience perinatal depression, which includes depressive symptoms during pregnancy and up to a years after giving birth.
Researchers led by Qian Yang from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Iceland investigated Swedish nationwide registers from 2001 to 2018. They identified 84,949 women with perinatal depression and 849,482 unaffected women.
After matching the women based on age and calendar year, and adjusting for various factors such as demographics, smoking and psychiatric history, they found a significant link. About 3 percent of women with perinatal depression had a premenstrual disorder before pregnancy, compared to only 0.6 percent of unaffected women. Additionally, women with perinatal depression were twice as likely to report premenstrual disorders after childbirth compared to those who did not experience perinatal depression.
These findings shed light on the connection between these two conditions. Understanding this association may be important for health care providers, allowing them to offer targeted support to women who may be at risk.
The authors of the study emphasize, “Our research, based on data from more than 900,000 pregnancies, highlights a strong bidirectional relationship between perinatal depression and premenstrual disorders. This suggests that both conditions may exist on a continuum, emphasizing the importance of recognizing these vulnerabilities in clinical practice.”
