The Influence of Perimenstrual Daily Ovarian Hormones on Anxiety and Cigarette Craving

These data provide high specificity for understanding hormonal influences on anxiety and craving during the menstrual cycle, which has implications for female-specific models and treatment of the anxiety-smoking comorbidity. Implications: This is the first study to document daily-level associations between salivary E2 and P, and their interaction, with anxiety and cigarette craving, in the context of the female menstrual cycle. Perimenstrum (ie, days before and during menses) appears to confer risk for anxiety and craving regardless of the hormonal balance. However, higher daily P dampened anxiety but only in the context of lower daily E2 on days outside of perimenstrum. For craving, higher P with lower E2 was associated with lower craving outside of perimenstrum. The ovarian hormonal milieu should be considered when understanding the etiology and subsequent treatment of anxiety-smoking comorbidity in females.