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Towards a consensus on diagnostic criteria, measurement and trial design of the premenstrual disorders: the ISPMD Montreal consensus

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Abstract

Premenstrual disorders (PMD) are characterised by a cluster of somatic and psychological symptoms of varying severity that occur during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and resolve during menses (Freeman and Sondheimer, Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry 5:30–39, 2003; Halbreich, Gynecol Endocrinol 19:320–334, 2004). Although PMD have been widely recognised for many decades, their precise cause is still unknown and there are no definitive, universally accepted diagnostic criteria. To consider this issue, an international multidisciplinary group of experts met at a face-to-face consensus meeting to review current definitions and diagnostic criteria for PMD. This was followed by extensive correspondence. The consensus group formally became established as the International Society for Premenstrual Disorders (ISPMD). The inaugural meeting of the ISPMD was held in Montreal in September 2008. The primary aim was to provide a unified approach for the diagnostic criteria of PMD, their quantification and guidelines on clinical trial design. This report summarises their recommendations. It is hoped that the criteria proposed here will inform discussions of the next edition of the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), and the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V) criteria that are currently under consideration. It is also hoped that the proposed definitions and guidelines could be used by all clinicians and investigators to provide a consistent approach to the diagnosis and treatment of PMD and to aid scientific and clinical research in this field.

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Acknowledgements

The Consensus Group acknowledges the opinion on the final manuscript of Professor David Rubinow who was invited as an original consensus member but was subsequently unable to attend. We also thank Julia Magnay for her detailed preparation and editing of this report.

Conflicts of interest

Bayer Schering Pharma provided unrestricted funding for the ISPMD consensus meeting, but they did not attend discussions or influence the outcome and recommendations in this publication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academic Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Keele University School of Medicine, University Hospital North Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK

    Patrick Michael Shaughn O’Brien

  2. Umeå Neurosteroid Research Center, Department of Clinical Sciences, Norrland University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden

    Torbjorn Bäckström

  3. Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Tennessee Health Science Centre, Memphis, TN, USA

    Candace Brown

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Lorraine Dennerstein

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jean Endicott

  6. Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    C. Neill Epperson

  7. Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Göteberg University, Göteberg, Sweden

    Elias Eriksson

  8. Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ellen Freeman

  9. State University of New York at Buffalo and WPA, New York, NY, USA

    Uriel Halbreich

  10. Academic Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, UK

    Khaled M. K. Ismail

  11. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK

    Nicholas Panay

  12. Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Teri Pearlstein

  13. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrea Rapkin

  14. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Robert Reid

  15. Section on Behavioral Endocrinology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Peter Schmidt

  16. Departments of Psychiatry, Behavioural Neurosciences, Obstetrics and Gynaecology McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Healthcare, 301 James Street South, Hamilton, ON, L8P3B6, Canada

    Meir Steiner

  17. Department of Gynaecology, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK

    John Studd

  18. Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, New Haven, CT, USA

    Kimberley Yonkers

Authors
  1. Patrick Michael Shaughn O’Brien
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  2. Torbjorn Bäckström
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  3. Candace Brown
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  4. Lorraine Dennerstein
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  5. Jean Endicott
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  6. C. Neill Epperson
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  7. Elias Eriksson
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  8. Ellen Freeman
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  9. Uriel Halbreich
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  10. Khaled M. K. Ismail
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  11. Nicholas Panay
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  12. Teri Pearlstein
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  13. Andrea Rapkin
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  14. Robert Reid
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  15. Peter Schmidt
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  16. Meir Steiner
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  17. John Studd
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  18. Kimberley Yonkers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Michael Shaughn O’Brien.

Additional information

All authors are members of the International Society for Premenstrual Disorders Expert Consensus Group.

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O’Brien, P.M.S., Bäckström, T., Brown, C. et al. Towards a consensus on diagnostic criteria, measurement and trial design of the premenstrual disorders: the ISPMD Montreal consensus. Arch Womens Ment Health 14, 13–21 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-010-0201-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-010-0201-3

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