Anxiety Sensitivity as a Moderator of the Association Between Premenstrual Symptoms and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity.

Abstract

Experience of premenstrual symptoms may be an important factor involved in understanding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom vulnerability. Correlations between PTSD and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) have been identified in epidemiological studies, however, the nature of this relation is not clear. The current study examined the incremental validity of premenstrual symptoms, as well as their interaction with anxiety sensitivity, in the prediction of PTSD symptom severity above and beyond other theoretically relevant covariates. A community sample of trauma-exposed women (N = 63) completed questionnaires assessing premenstrual symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and neuroticism and were administered the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale to assess PTSD symptom severity. A series of hierarchical linear regressions revealed that premenstrual symptoms uniquely predicted PTSD total, reexperiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal symptoms above and beyond other theoretically relevant covariates (i.e., number of potentially traumatic events, neuroticism, panic attack history, and anxiety sensitivity). Additionally, anxiety sensitivity emerged as a moderator of the association between premenstrual symptoms and PTSD symptom severity such that greater premenstrual symptoms were associated with greater PTSD total, reexperiencing, and numbing symptom severity for individuals high, but not low, in anxiety sensitivity. Experience of premenstrual symptoms may be an important sex-specific mechanism involved in increasing vulnerability for PTSD symptoms, particularly among women high in anxiety sensitivity.