News Release

Does inflammation contribute to premenstrual symptoms?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

<i>Journal of Women's Health</i>

image: Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health (http://www.academyofwomenshealth.org/) and the Society for Women's Health Research. view more 

Credit: ©Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, June 16, 2016--Women with premenstrual symptoms (PMS) including mood swings, weight gain/bloating, and abdominal cramps/back pain have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Establishing a link between inflammation and PMS would have important implications for treatment and prevention using anti-inflammatory agents and for cardiovascular disease risk reduction, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free for download on the Journal of Women's Health website until July 16, 2016.

Ellen Gold, PhD and coauthors, University of California, Davis, analyzed data collected on a racially and ethnically diverse group of midlife women as part of the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). In the article "The Association of Inflammation with Premenstrual Symptoms" , the researchers report a significant association between a level of high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) >3 mg/L with four of the five mood and physical symptoms evaluated.

In the accompanying Editorial entitled "Chronic Inflammation and Premenstrual Syndrome: A Missing Link Found?", Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, ScD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, states: "Establishing PMS as an inflammatory condition suggests that PMS may be a useful sentinel of future chronic disease risk...This intriguing possibility also suggests that treatment of premenstrual symptoms with therapies targeting inflammation could have positive impacts on long-term chronic disease risk."

"The majority of women experience at least some premenstrual symptoms. Recognizing an underlying inflammatory basis for PMS would open the door to additional treatment and prevention options and create a new opportunity for long-term risk intervention," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Transgender Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.


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