Menopause can trigger depression

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Women who have no history of depression may be at increased risk of developing it around the menopause.
There's a popular belief that the menopause makes women depressed - but not much hard evidence to back up this view. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania followed a group of 231 premenopausal women with no history of depression and aged from 35 to 47 for eight years. They found that depressive symptoms were four times more likely to happen as a women made the transition to menopause compared to in the premenopausal time.

Hormone changes were linked to the likelihood of depression. The risk seemed to be independent of other symptoms like hot flashes and factors such as smoking and body mass index. Another study, from Massachussetts General Hospital, known as the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles confirms this. Women were twice as likely to develop depression for the first time in their lives at menopause compared to before its onset. In this study, women with hot flashes seemed more likely to get depressed. Further research should address what can be done to reduce the risk of depression at menopause.

Source
Archives of General Psychiatry April 2006 Volume 63 pages 375-382 and 385-390

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