Fertile Age (fertile + age)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


How does premenstrual dysphoric disorder relate to depression and anxiety disorders?

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 3 2003
Mikael Landén M.D., Ph.D.
Abstract Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe variant of premenstrual syndrome that afflicts approximately 5% of all women of fertile age. The hallmark of this condition is the surfacing of symptoms during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, and the disappearance of symptoms shortly after the onset of menstruation. Whereas many researchers have emphasized the similarities between PMDD and anxiety disorders, and in particular panic disorder, others have suggested that PMDD should be regarded as a variant of depression. Supporting both these notions, the treatment of choice for PMDD, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), is also first line of treatment for depression and for most anxiety disorders. In this review, the relationship between PMDD on the one hand, and anxiety and depression on the other, is being discussed. Our conclusion is that PMDD is neither a variant of depression nor an anxiety disorder, but a distinct diagnostic entity, with irritability and affect lability rather than depressed mood or anxiety as most characteristic features. The clinical profile of SRIs when used for PMDD, including a short onset of action, suggests that this effect is mediated by other serotonergic synapses than the antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects of these drugs. Although we hence suggest that PMDD should be regarded as a distinct entity, it should be emphasized that this disorder does display intriguing similarities with other conditions, and in particular with panic disorder, which should be the subject of further studies. Also, the possibility that there are subtypes of PMDD more closely related to depression, or anxiety disorders, than the most common form of the syndrome, should not be excluded. Depression and Anxiety 17:122,129, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


24-Hour Distribution of Migraine Attacks

HEADACHE, Issue 1 2008
Karl Alstadhaug MD
Background., It is a widespread opinion that migraine attacks arise more frequently in the morning and that circadian rhythms may be responsible for the temporal pattern in migraine. However, only one small prospective study has previously been published on this topic. Objective., To investigate circadian variation in migraine. Method., Eighty-nine females in fertile age who had participated in a previous questionnaire-based study volunteered to prospectively record in detail every migraine attack for 12 consecutive months. We reviewed all diary entries covering the period from March 2004 through April 2005, and did time-series analysis. Results., Fifty-eight patients had complete recordings over the 12 months and 26 completed the diaries for 1,11 months. Three patients were excluded due to missing data and 2 patients were excluded due to chronic migraine or medication-overuse headache. A total of 2314 attacks were experienced, in average 27.5 per patient (range 1,75). By fitting a sine curve to the data there was a harmonic trend with a peak around 13.40 and the peak/low ratio was 25.6 (95% CI: 8.3,78.6). Conclusion., The main finding in our study is that migraine attacks tend to recur in a harmonic 24-hour cyclic manner with a peak around the middle of the day and that there is no difference between migraine with aura and migraine without aura regarding this. [source]


Bullous pemphigoid in pregnancy: contrasting behaviour in two patients

BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
B.C. Gee
Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an increasingly common immunobullous disease of the elderly, and, due to the late age of onset, is rarely seen in women of fertile age. Consequently, to the best of our knowledge no cases of BP in pregnancy have been described. We present two cases of BP that have differed in disease behaviour during pregnancy. [source]


Menstrual cycle influences ocular surface parameters in normal and dry eye patients

ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2007
P VERSURA
Purpose: We analyzed the changes of ocular surface parameters and symptoms in healthy and dry eye women over the menstrual cycle. To our knowledge, incomplete reports appear in the literature on this issue in healthy women still in the fertile period, and none on dry eye women of the same age. This to comparatively evaluate what then happens in peri- and post-menopause. Methods: 29 females in the fertile age and a regular 26-29 days menstrual cycle were included in the study. 14 subjects with and 15 without dry eye symptoms. Symptoms were scored by the validate questionnaire OSDI. Degree of dryness was evaluated with the Schirmer test I, Jones test, BUT, Ferning test, Tear Function Index (TFI) and conjunctival imprint cytology. Degree of inflammation was evaluated with conjunctival brush cytology and dosage of exudated serum albumin in tears. Hormonal cytology procedures were applied to exfoliated cells in tears. Patients were analysed during menstruation, in the follicular and in luteal phases over two consecutive cycles and results were statistically evaluated Results: TFI, tear stability, surface dryness and inflammation were significantly related to the hormonal fluctuations in menstrual cycle, in particular to the estrogen peak occurring during the follicular phase, especially in dry eye patients. Subjective symptoms appeared to increase in the luteal phase, suggesting the presence of a pre-menstrual syndrome Conclusions: The ocular surface is confirmed to be dependent from hormonal variations; clinicians would take into account these cyclic variations during the examinations of subjects still in the fertile age, with dryness symptoms [source]