Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:1329-1335
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
High nocturnal body temperature in premenstrual syndrome and late luteal phase dysphoric disorder
SK Severino, DR Wagner, ML Moline, SW Hurt, CP Pollak and S Zendell
Department of Psychiatry, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center- Westchester Division, White Plains 10605.
OBJECTIVE: Because women with late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD)
experience symptomatic affective states predictably, they can be studied to
determine whether there are biological findings related solely to the
clinically symptomatic state. The authors sought to answer the question,
Does body temperature change with affective state? METHOD: The core body
temperature and motor activity patterns of 10 women with premenstrual
syndrome (PMS), six of whom also met criteria for LLPDD, and no other
psychological or medical illness were compared to those of six women with
chronic, noncyclic dysphoria and six asymptomatic comparison women at four
phases of the menstrual cycle. RESULTS: The nocturnal temperatures of the
women with PMS/LLPDD were significantly higher than those of the comparison
subjects across the entire menstrual cycle, but there were no differences
in nocturnal activity levels. The women with noncyclic dysphoria had a mean
nocturnal temperature in the follicular phase as high as that of the women
with PMS/LLPDD. The temperatures of all women were higher in the luteal
phase than in the follicular phase. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest
that in the future investigators should document menstrual cycle phase in
all female subjects and, when studying body temperature, should carefully
monitor symptomatic state in comparison subjects.
