Longitudinal pattern of depressive symptoms around natural menopause.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

An increased risk of depressive symptoms has been associated with the transition to menopause, but the risk of depressive symptoms in the early postmenopausal years has not been well characterized.

Objectives

To identify within-woman changes in depressive symptoms during a 14-year period around menopause, determine associations of a history of depression with the pattern of depressive symptoms, and evaluate the rate of change in reproductive hormones as predictors of depressive symptoms following menopause.

Design, setting, and participants

A randomly identified, population-based sample in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, of 203 late-reproductive-age women who were premenopausal at baseline and reached natural menopause.

Main outcomes and measures

SUBMITTER: Freeman EW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4576824 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature