The problem of medicating women like the men: conceptual discussion of menstrual cycle-dependent psychopharmacology (31 December 2019)

Summary

This article in Translational and Clinical Pharmacology aims to highlight the need to reconsider current medication dosing strategies in reproductive women. It uses the example of schizophrenia to illustrate how a woman's clinical symptoms can change throughout the ovulatory cycle, leading to fluctuations in medication responses.

The authors found that healthcare professionals need to consider hormonal and clinical changes that occur with the menstrual cycle when prescribing treatments. They also call for further research to increase knowledge of the issues and find better treatment strategies in women whose symptoms change with cyclical changes in ovarian hormones. However, they warn that results from such studies should never override the symptoms and treatment responses experienced by individual clinical patients.