Differential behavioral effects of gonadal steroids in women with and in those without premenstrual syndrome.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Leuprolide and Estradiol, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The researchers undertook a study to determine the role of estrogen and progesterone in this syndrome.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20 women taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

Women without premenstrual syndrome (normal women) participated in a similar protocol.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Leuprolide study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the women nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Leuprolide, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some women received a placebo instead of Leuprolide, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the women took both Leuprolide and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Emotions, Estradiol, Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone, Hot Flashes, Leuprolide, Premenstrual Syndrome and Progesterone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Leuprolide and Estradiol in 20 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 1998 (The New England journal of medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Leuprolide library page, all human trials.