Menstrual attitude and social cognitive stress influence autonomic nervous system in women with premenstrual syndrome

Figures & data

Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and correlations between all study variables in study 1 (n = 277).

	M	SD	ANS	Debilitating	Bothersome	Natural	Predictable	Deny
PSS	11.56	7.62	0.516**	0.367**	0.358**	0.048	0.514**	0.083
ANS	20.45	7.24		0.516**	0.437**	0.169**	0.616**	0.071
Debilitating	33.67	5.94			0.488**	0.345**	0.550**	0.046
Bothersome	13.58	3.03				0.479**	0.516**	0.236**
Natural	15.75	3.73					0.362**	0.447**
Predictable	18.13	4.51						0.218**
Deny	11.71	3.58

Note. Correlations in bold are significant at *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01; M = means; SD = Standard Deviation. PSS = Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PSS); ANS = refers to the category of autonomic nervous system in Menstrual Distress Questionnaire-autonomous (MDQ); Debilitating, Bothersome, Natural, Predictable and Deny are five dimensions of the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ).

Figure 1. Mediation model in study 1. bothersome and predictable as Mediators between degree of PMS and perceived ANS responses. Depicted are beta coefficients for the relevant paths (p < 0.05).

Figure 2. Experimental process in study 2. Tasks 1 and 2 are randomly assigned speaking and mental arithmetic task. Rec = Recovery period.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics in study 2 (M ± SD).

	PMS	Non-PMS	t	p	95% CI
Age	23.23 ± 1.25	22.92 ± 2.00	−1.57	0.15	−0.10 to 0.82
BMI (kg/m^2)	20.13 ± 2.05	20.95 ± 2.11	−0.71	0.35	−0.45 to 0.17
Menstrual duration	5.47 ± 1.23	4.88 ± 0.87	1.45	0.17	−0.12 to 0.86
Menstrual cycle length	28.47 ± 3.25	29.08 ± 4.01	−1.36	0.21	−0.32 to 0.55
BAI	33.70 ± 7.52	24.09 ± 3.38	7.95***	<0.01	7.69 to 12.86
BDI	13.06 ± 7.72	6.98 ± 4.23	2.83**	<0.01	7.34 to 11.80

Note. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; BMI refers to the body mass index, calculated as the participant’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of her height in meters (kg/m²); Menstrual duration refers to the number of days in a menstrual cycle during which menstruation lasts; Menstrual cycle length refers to the time interval between two consecutive menstrual cycles. BAI refers to the scores of Beck Anxiety Inventory; BDI refers to the scores of Beck Depression Inventory. 95% CI is the mean confidence intervals.

Figure 3. ΔHR and ΔLF/HF reactivity and recovery among two groups in the speaking task. During the task stage, ΔHR and Δ LF/HF were the difference between data in the task period and data in the baseline period; During the recovery stage, ΔHR and Δ LF/HF were the difference between data in the recovery period and data in the task period. Error bars depict standard error of the mean. *p < 0.05.

Table 3. HR and HRV (lg(ms²)) in the two tasks (M ± SD).

	PMS (n = 50)						Non-PMS (n = 46)
	Late-luteal phase			Follicular phase			Late-luteal phase			Follicular phase
	Baseline	Task	Recovery	Baseline	Task	Recovery	Baseline	Task	Recovery	Baseline	Task	Recovery
Speech
HR	80.22 ± 10.48^a	102.66 ± 17.59	86.62 ± 14.53	72.65 ± 9.17	96.51 ± 16.49	79.80 ± 13.70	81.11 ± 12.47^a	104.56 ± 16.73	81.74 ± 11.56	75.23 ± 10.30	99.18 ± 18.33	76.68 ± 12.85
HF (ms^2)	1.64 ± 1.12	2.40 ± 1.49	2.22 ± 1.21	1.60 ± 0.77	2.11 ± 1.26	2.33 ± 1.02	1.56 ± 0.83	2.09 ± 1.26	2.17 ± 0.99	1.70 ± 0.75	2.16 ± 1.25	2.16 ± 1.00
LF (ms^2)	1.36 ± 1.21	2.22 ± 1.41	2.14 ± 1.64	1.06 ± 0.71	1.86 ± 1.20	1.95 ± 1.00	1.07 ± 0.83	1.85 ± 1.30	1.60 ± 0.80	1.12 ± 0.79	1.98 ± 1.22	1.59 ± 0.86
LF/HF	1.62 ± 1.44^a	1.95 ± 2.17	2.26 ± 2.01	1.04 ± 0.88	1.52 ± 1.26	1.13 ± 1.03	0.96 ± 0.77^a	1.74 ± 1.47	1.05 ± 0.78	0.75 ± 0.66	1.77 ± 1.48	1.12 ± 1.19
Arithmetic
HR	81.22 ± 10.48^a	91.70 ± 15.63	84.18 ± 13.17	74.23 ± 9.17	86.02 ± 13.57	78.29 ± 11.21	82.34 ± 12.47^a	95.09 ± 16.46	82.40 ± 13.29	74.17 ± 10.30	90.47 ± 18.84	76.71 ± 14.56
HF (ms2)	1.64 ± 1.12	2.39 ± 1.19	2.06 ± 1.19	1.60 ± 0.77	2.11 ± 1.15	2.20 ± 0.96	1.56 ± 0.83	1.92 ± 1.10	2.10±0.91	1.70 ± 0.75	1.94 ± 1.45	2.21 ± 1.03
LF (ms2)	1.36 ± 1.21	2.17 ± 1.16	1.94 ± 1.06	1.06 ± 0.71	1.90 ± 1.12	1.76 ± 0.93	1.07 ± 0.83	1.74 ± 1.05	1.72 ± 0.87	1.12 ± 0.79	1.62 ± 0.90	1.81 ± 1.00
LF/HF	1.62 ± 1.44^a	1.83 ± 1.50	3.07 ± 2.61	1.04 ± 0.88	1.57 ± 1.35	1.14 ± 1.21	0.96 ± 0.77^a	1.79 ± 1.11	1.16 ± 0.87	0.75 ± 0.066	1.58 ± 1.13	1.13 ± 1.19

Note. The raw data is expressed as HR, HF, LF, LF/HF in the two tasks. HR = Heart rate; HF = high frequency; LF = low frequency; LF/HF = low frequency/high frequency ratio.

^aData in the late-luteal phase is significantly different from the follicular phase (p < 0.05).

Figure 4. ΔHR, ΔHF and ΔLF/HF reactivity and recovery among two groups in the mental arithmetic task. During the task stage, ΔHR, ΔHF and Δ LF/HF were the difference between data in the task period and data in the baseline period; During the recovery stage, ΔHR, ΔHF and Δ LF/HF were the difference between data in the recovery period and data in the task period. Error bars depict standard error of the mean. *p < 0.05.