Personal history of major depression may put women at risk for premenstrual dysphoric symptomatology

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a chronic condition that significantly affects a woman's well-being on a monthly basis. Although co-occurrence of PMDD and major depressive disorder (MDD) is common, most studies examine whether women with PMDD are at risk for depression and investigations of PMDD in depressed women are scant. Therefore, the present study examined rates of PMDD in young depressed women.

PMDD was assessed using a structured clinical interview (SCID-PMDD) in a sample of 164 young women with (n=85) and without (n=79) any history of depression.

Rates of PMDD were elevated among women with MDD in this sample. This result held true regardless of participants' MDD status (current, lifetime or past history-only symptoms of MDD) and regardless of whether all or most DSM-IV-TR PMDD criteria were met.

Sample size in the present study was relatively small, and daily diary data were not available to confirm a PMDD diagnosis.

The current study highlights the need for clinicians to assess for PMDD in young female patients with major depression. Depressed women experiencing the added physical and psychological burden of PMDD may have a more severe disease course, and future studies will need to identify appropriate treatments for this subset of depressed women.