Should premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder coexist in diagnostic manuals: Exploring the answer through citation analysis.

Abstract

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorders (PMDDs) both represent the most studied premenstrual disorders. Most studies have substantial prevalence of both PMS and PMDD, though the current understanding of the disorders reflects that PMDD is the more severe disorder of the two. However, there is substantial overlap in the etiopathogenesis and treatment approach of both these disorders.

Aim: The current study thus explored trends of the use of PMS and PMDD as diagnostic entities.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted using Harzing's Publish or Perish for identifying top 50 cited articles on PMS and PMDD, published between 2013 and 2023. The search and the citation metrics were obtained from Google Scholar through the mentioned software. The citation metrics of the two groups of studies were compared, and appropriate statistical maneuvers were used.

Results: The PMS studies had a higher mean number of citations than PMDD studies. The PMDD studies tended to have a higher number of authors from Psychiatry or related background. The PMDD studies also had higher representation of institutions from the United States of America.

Conclusion: Using citation analysis to study the utilization trends of diagnostic label is a novel approach. This study shows that there is a need for a unique diagnostic entity to represent the premenstrual disorders, and the coexistence of PMS and PMDD is redundant.