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BMJ. 1999 May 22;318(7195):1375-81. ;">

Efficacy of vitamin B-6 in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome: systematic review.

Authors:

Wyatt KM,Dimmock PW,Jones PW,Shaughn O'Brien PM.

Academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, North Staffordshire Hospital, Stoke on Trent ST4 6QG.

Objectives:

To evaluate the efficacy of vitamin B-6 in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome.

Design:

Systematic review of published and unpublished randomised placebo controlled trials of the effectiveness of vitamin B-6 in the management of premenstrual syndrome.

Subjects:

Nine published trials representing 940 patients with premenstrual syndrome.

Settings, Design and Main Outcome Measures:

Proportion of women whose overall premenstrual symptoms showed an improvement over placebo. A secondary analysis was performed on the proportion of women whose premenstrual depressive symptoms showed an improvement over placebo.

Results:

Odds ratio relative to placebo for an improvement in overall premenstrual symptoms was 2.32 (95% confidence interval 1.95 to 2.54). Odds ratio relative to placebo for an improvement in depressive symptoms was 1.69 (1.39 to 2.06) from four trials representing 541 patients.

Conclusion:

Conclusions are limited by the low quality of most of the trials included. Results suggest that doses of vitamin B-6 up to 100 mg/day are likely to be of benefit in treating premenstrual symptoms and premenstrual depression.

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