Despite the increases in alcohol consumption among women, relatively few studies have adequately evaluated the behavioral effects of alcohol in women and the factors that may influence their response to alcohol under controlled conditions. One factor that may influence alcohol consumption or the behavioral response to alcohol in women is the menstrual cycle. In terms of alcohol pharmacokinetics across the menstrual cycle, the results of initial studies were inconclusive (see reviews by Gill, 1997; Lammers et al., 1995), while more recent studies have consistently failed to observe differences in alcohol pharmacokinetics across the menstrual cycle (Correa and Oga, 2004; Holdstock and de Wit, 2000). Similarly, early studies provided some suggestive evidence that the behavioral effects of alcohol varied across the menstrual cycle, but the findings across studies have been inconsistent and inconclusive in large part due to design limitations such as relying on self-reported drinking, not carefully monitoring or verifying menstrual cycle phase with hormone levels of estradiol and progesterone, small sample sizes, or a combination of these factors.
