Mood swings across the menstrual cycle: a comparison between oral contraceptive users and non-users

In this study we have evaluated the cyclical mood change throughout menstrual cycle in oral contraceptive (OC) users and non-users. A total of 62 young women, with a regular menstrual cycle and not clinically depressed, kept, for five weeks, daily records of their visual analogue ratings of mood, irritability, energy and tension (Global Vigor-Affect scale). A Profile of Mood States was performed weekly as a further self-evaluation of mood. Eighteen women were taking oral contraceptives and 44 were non-users. Only the depression-dejection dimension varied significantly during the menstrual cycle (p < 0.05) with an improvement of mood around day 14 and worsening premenstrually. No significant differences were found between the two groups. On the whole the results suggest that oral contraceptives do not alter the physiological fluctuation of mood occurring with menses in young healthy women.