Researcher awarded $868,000 grant to study PMS and vitamin D
Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson
Researcher Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson has received a five-year, $868,857 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institutes of Health to study women’s mental health, with special emphasis on premenstrual syndrome and the role vitamin D may play in counteracting its effects on women.
Bertone-Johnson is an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology in the Department of Public Health within the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
Current estimates are that up to 90 percent of pre-menopausal women regularly experience psychological and/or physical symptoms prior to the onset of their monthly menstrual period. While the symptoms are mild in most women, between 8 percent and 20 percent experience symptoms that meet the clinical definition of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) that substantially interferes with normal life activities and interpersonal relationships.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), experienced by 5 percent to 8 percent of women, is a more extreme form of PMS in which psychological symptoms predominate. Currently available treatments for PMS and PMDD are not effective in many women and have substantial side effects. It is therefore important to identify ways to prevent the initial development of PMS and PMDD, Bertone-Johnson says.
“Previous work by our research group suggested that high dietary intake of vitamin D and calcium may substantially reduce a woman’s risk of developing PMS,” Bertone-Johnson says. “This new research grant will allow us to further investigate the role of vitamin D, calcium and parathyroid hormone in the development of PMS and PMDD.”
Bertone-Johnson and her research team will study the relationship between blood levels of these biochemical factors and risk of these disorders in the Nurses’ Health Study II, an ongoing prospective study of more than 117,000 women. They will also assess whether several genetic factors may be involved in the development of PMS and PMDD.
This research will contribute to a greater understanding of the role of biochemical and genetic factors in PMS and PMDD, Bertone-Johnson says. Identification of factors that affect incidence of PMS and PMDD will provide women increased opportunities for modifying their risk of the disorders, with fewer drawbacks than pharmaceutical treatments.
