Heightened physiological and subjective stress levels in women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in the luteal menstrual phase.

<p><b>Top Panel:</b> Boxplots-bars show mean salivary cortisol values (ln) comparing the follicular and the luteal cycle phase in PMS subjects (dark grey) versus control subjects (light grey). Whiskers represent minimum and maximum of data-range. On average, salivary cortisol levels increased from the follicular to the luteal cycle phase in the PMS group (<i>p</i> = 0.04). <b>Bottom panel:</b> In the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the PMS group (dark grey) displayed a similar trend for an increase from the follicular to the luteal cycle phase (<i>p</i> = 0.20) as depicted by boxplot-bars. On average, the PMS group (dark grey) tended to report higher subjective acute stress reactivity compared to the control group (light grey), revealing a significant difference for the luteal cycle phase (<i>p</i> = 0.01). Whiskers represent minimum and maximum of data-range.