Vitamin A levels in premenstrual syndrome.

To determine whether changes in peripheral vitamin A levels are associated with symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), 10 PMS patients and 10 controls were studied. They gave blood at 2- or 3-day intervals through three menstrual cycles. The vitamin A was measured by fluorometry after cyclohexane extraction. In the controls, vitamin A values were 68.0 +/- 3.2 micrograms/dL (mean +/- SE) during the luteal phase and 69.8 +/- 4.2 micrograms/dL during the follicular phase. No significant changes were noted between the two values. In the patients, the values were 73.9 +/- 4.2 micrograms/dL during the luteal phase, which was not significantly different from 72.7 +/- 1.8 micrograms/dL during the follicular phase. No significant changes were noted between the controls and the patients in either the luteal or the follicular phase. Vitamin A deficiency in PMS patients was not demonstrated in our study.