28 days later: A prospective daily study on psychological well-being across the menstrual cycle and the effects of hormones and oral contraceptives.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We aimed to study how hormonal status (oral contraceptive [OC] users vs naturally cycling [NC]) affects different dimensions and variability of psychological well-being, and how they relate to sex hormone levels (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone).

Methods

Twenty-two NC participants and 18 OC users reported daily affective and physical symptoms and collected daily salivary samples across 28 days. Groups were compared using psychological well-being averages (linear mixed models), day-to-day variability (Levene's test), and network models. Within NC participants, cycle phase effects and time-varying associations between hormones and psychological well-being were assessed using both person-centered mean and change (subtracting mean from daily score) scores.

SUBMITTER: Doornweerd AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12017372 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature