Insomnia, Inattention and Fatigue Symptoms of Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

Pai-Cheng Lin; Chih-Hung Ko; Yen-Ju Lin; Ju-Yu Yen

doi:10.3390/ijerph18126192

Insomnia, Inattention and Fatigue Symptoms of Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 8;18(12):6192. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126192.

Authors

Pai-Cheng Lin^{1

2}, Chih-Hung Ko^{2

3

4}, Yen-Ju Lin², Ju-Yu Yen^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 801, Taiwan.
² Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal Siao-gang Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 812, Taiwan.

Abstract

Aim: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) has predictable, cyclic, psychological, and somatic symptoms, such as sleep problems. They result in functional impairment, are aggravated in the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, and are resolved by menstruation. The present study evaluated the insomnia, inattention, and fatigue symptoms of PMDD and their fluctuations during the menstrual cycle.

Methods: A total of 100 women were diagnosed as having PMDD based on psychiatric interviews and a prospective investigation of three menstrual cycles. A total of 96 individuals without PMDD were recruited as controls. Their symptoms, namely insomnia, inattention, and fatigue as well as functional impairment were assessed by using the premenstrual symptoms screening tool, the Pittsburgh insomnia rating scale, the attention and performance self-assessment scale, and the fatigue-assessment scale during both premenstrual and follicular phases.

Results: In both the premenstrual and follicular phases, women with PMDD experienced more severe insomnia, inattentiveness, and fatigue than did women in the control group. A paired t-test demonstrated that women with PMDD had more severe severity insomnia, inattentiveness, and fatigue in the luteal phase than in the follicular phase. A repeated-measures analysis of variance demonstrated that the interaction period of PMDD and a menstrual cycle was significantly associated with insomnia, inattentiveness, and fatigue. A further correlation analysis demonstrated that all three symptoms were positively associated with self-reported functional impairment due to PMDD.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that women with PMDD experienced an exacerbation of insomnia, memory problems, difficulty maintaining focus, and fatigue in the premenstrual phase. These symptoms are correlated with PMDD symptoms severity and functional impairment, and as such, they should be evaluated, and interventions should be employed in the late luteal phase of women with PMDD.

Keywords: PMDD; fatigue; inattention; insomnia.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Fatigue / epidemiology
Fatigue / etiology
Female
Humans
Luteal Phase
Menstrual Cycle
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder* / epidemiology
Premenstrual Syndrome* / epidemiology
Prospective Studies
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* / epidemiology
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* / etiology