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Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Apr 16;8(3):e019490.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019490.

Premenstrual syndrome and alcohol consumption: a systematic review and meta-analysis

María Del Mar Fernández  1   2 , Jurgita Saulyte  1   2 , Hazel M Inskip  3   4 , Bahi Takkouche  1   2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Premenstrual syndrome and alcohol consumption: a systematic review and meta-analysis

María Del Mar Fernández et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a very common disorder worldwide which carries an important economic burden. We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis to assess the role of alcohol in the occurrence of PMS.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the five regional bibliographic databases of the WHO, the Proceedings database and the Open Access Thesis and Dissertations (OATD) from inception to May 2017. We also reviewed the references of every article retrieved and established personal contact with researchers to trace further publications or reports. We did not include any language limitations. Studies were included if: (1) they presented original data from cohort, case-control or cross-sectional studies, (2) PMS was clearly defined as the outcome of interest, (3) one of the exposure factors was alcohol consumption, (4) they provided estimates of odds ratios, relative risks, or any other effect measure and their confidence intervals, or enough data to calculate them.

Results: We identified 39 studies of which 19 were eligible. Intake of alcohol was associated with a moderate increase in the risk of PMS (OR=1.45, 95% CI: 1.17 to 1.79). Heavy drinking yielded a larger increase in the risk than any drinking (OR=1.79, 95% CI: 1.39 to 2.32).

Discussion: Our results suggest that alcohol intake presents a moderate association with PMS risk. Future studies should avoid cross-sectional designs and focus on determining whether there is a threshold of alcohol intake under which the harmful effect on PMS is non-existent.

Keywords: alcohol; meta-analysis; premenstrual syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram for study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of study-specific and pooled OR of alcohol drinking and premenstrual syndrome: any drinking.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of study-specific and pooled OR of alcohol drinking and premenstrual syndrome: heavy drinking.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot of log OR versus SE of log OR of alcohol drinking and premenstrual syndrome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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