The stat that stopped me... 84.5% · PMOS

The stat that stopped me... 84.5%

I read a study this week that made me pause.

587 women with PMOS. 84.5% of them had pathological scores on a validated body image scale. Not "some." Not "a subset." Eighty-four point five percent.

And here's the part that matters clinically: when researchers ran the numbers, poor body image wasn't just showing up alongside anxiety and depression scores in this group... it was independently linked to both, even after accounting for other factors.

Body image isn't a footnote to PMOS mental health. In this data, it's one of the main drivers.

I want to be careful here, because "just lose weight" is not what this means. What it means is: if a provider is only screening for depression or anxiety with a generic checklist, and never asks how someone feels about their body, they're missing one of the biggest levers in the room.

📎 The study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39945793/

If body image has been part of your PMOS experience, I'd love to hear how... good, bad, or complicated.

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The stat that stopped me... 84.5%