Premenstrual symptoms linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease: Study

”The increased risk was particularly clear in women who were diagnosed before the age of 25 and in those who had also experienced postnatal depression, a condition that can also be caused by hormonal fluctuations,” says Yihui Yang, PhD student at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and first author of the study.

Research has not yet identified the cause of this link, but the researchers behind the study suggest three possible explanations. One is that women with premenstrual symptoms may have a disrupted regulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which controls blood pressure and fluid balance in the body, among other things. The second is that these women have increased levels of inflammation in the body, which is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis and other heart problems. Finally, it may be because women with premenstrual symptoms may have metabolic abnormalities, which are linked to an increased risk of both stroke and heart attack.

”We hope that our findings will contribute to greater awareness that premenstrual disorders not only affect daily life but can also have consequences for long-term health,” says Donghao Lu, associate professor at the same department and last author of the study.

Reference:

Yang, Y., Bränn, E., Zhou, J. et al. Premenstrual disorders and risk of cardiovascular diseases. Nat Cardiovasc Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-025-00684-4