Objectives: Women with cyclic mastalgia seem to be at risk of fibrocystic breast disease and/or breast cancer. We studied the relationships between mastalgia and hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle.
Study design: Ostensibly healthy women were monitored during a sum of 326 cycles. A case-control study compared personal and hormonal variables of 30 women experiencing cyclic mastalgia with those of 77 women without this symptom.
Results: Except sleeping times, no significant differences were found in personal variables. Cyclic mastalgia and symptoms of fluid retention were slightly associated. Menses and the luteal phase were significantly longer in cases than in controls. Gonadotropin but not ovarian hormone levels were also significantly higher in cases throughout the cycle.
Conclusion: Cyclic mastalgia is less related to symptoms of fluid retention or to ovarian hormone levels than to regularly high gonadotropin levels, specific inhibitors might thus be used to alleviate the symptom.