<b>A Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Treating Psychiatric Symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome</b> / 日本東洋医学雑誌

ABSTRACT

<p><b>Introduction </b> Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a constellation of symptoms that occurs 3-10 days before menses, and irritability is the most common mental symptom of PMS.<br> <b>Subjects </b> Subjects were 52 women who were seen for irritability prior to menses. Thirty of the women received acupuncture (the treatment group) while the remaining 22 women were untreated (the control group).<br><b>Methods </b> The Stress Response Scale-18 (SRS-18) was used to measure the extent of mental symptoms. The treatment group underwent 1 session of acupuncture per week for a total of 6 sessions (1 round of acupuncture). Mental symptoms were measured in the control group over 4 consecutive menstrual cycles. Patients with a total score on the SRS-18 of 20 to 40 points were identified in the 2 groups, and the SRS-18 scores of these selected patients were compared over consecutive menstrual cycles.<br><b>Results </b> There was a statistically significant (P = 0.0080) difference between the percent improvement in the SRS-18 score for 17 selected patients from the treatment group and the percent change in that 21 score or 7 selected patients from the control group. There was a statistically significant (P = 0.00025) difference in the SRS-18 scores of the 30 patients in the treatment group before and after acupuncture. Of the 30 patients, 73.3% (22/30) satisfied with the treatment was effective. All mental symptoms of PMS, including irritability, were alleviated an average of 43% in those patients.<br><b>Conclusion </b> Acupuncture alleviated the mental symptoms of PMS.</p>