New publications
Premenstrual disorders double the risk of suicide in women
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
A team of epidemiologists and environmental medicine experts from Sweden, Iceland and the United States found that women in Sweden with premenstrual disorder (PMD) are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to those without the disorder.
In their study, published in JAMA Network Open, the team analyzed data from several national registries in Sweden on women with VUR.
Previous research has shown that the baseline length of a menstrual cycle is typically between 23 and 38 days, totaling about 480 cycles over a lifetime. The period before your period starts is called the premenstrual period, which typically lasts about a week. Many women experience depression, anger, mood swings, and anxiety during this period. Those who experience these symptoms to an extreme degree have premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
It was previously known that women with severe forms of VUR were more likely to have accidents, and some studies had suggested that they had an increased risk of suicide. The research team examined this risk by analysing data from several national registries in Sweden and tracking mortality rates among 67,748 women diagnosed with VUR between 2001 and 2018.
When looking at causes of death and comparing mortality rates between women with and without VUR, they found that women with the disorder were more likely to die from unnatural causes and, on average, twice as likely to commit suicide. Specifically, the researchers found an overall mortality rate of 8.4 deaths per 10,000 person-years among women with VUR. Women with VUR also had a higher risk of dying from unnatural causes, especially suicide, with a hazard ratio of 1.92.
The research team did not attempt to identify the reasons for the increased risk of suicide, but they suggest that more research is needed to find the causes and perhaps ways to reduce both the outcome and the causes of suicide among women with VUR.