Premenstrual disorders and risk of cardiovascular diseases

Several lines of evidence indicate a potential link between premenstrual disorders (PMDs) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, it remains unclear whether women with PMDs have a higher risk of CVDs. Here we present a Swedish nationwide population-based matched cohort study from 2001 to 2022 and a sibling matched cohort to address familial confounding. A total of 99,411 women with PMDs were included in the population analysis and 36,061 women with PMDs in the sibling analysis. Compared with individuals without PMDs, women with PMDs had a higher risk of any CVD (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.11 (95% confidence interval: 1.08–1.13) in the population analysis and 1.10 (95% confidence interval: 1.06–1.15) in the sibling analysis). The risk was particularly pronounced for PMDs diagnosed before 25 years of age and PMDs with comorbid perinatal depression. Our study shows that women who received a PMD diagnosis in specialist or primary care are at a higher risk of CVDs. Yang et al. draw evidence from population-based and sibling cohort studies to reveal that women suffering from premenstrual disorders are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.