[LindaT]

Depression Linked to Early Onset of Perimenopause

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with a history of depression may enter the pre-menopausal period known as perimenopause sooner than women who have never suffered from depression, according to a report published in the January 13th issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Perimenopause is a term for the years before a woman's last menstrual period, when menstruation tends to be irregular.

At a major menopause meeting in 2001, Dr. Lee S. Cohen and colleagues from Harvard Medical School (news - web sites) in Boston presented findings from a study of 34 middle-aged women that suggested a link between depression and early perimenopause onset.

In the current study, Cohen's team provides updated results after analyzing data from 332 women with and 644 women without a history of major depression. The follow-up period was three years.

The authors found that women with a history of depression were 20% more likely to enter perimenopause early than women without this history. However, the most severely depressed women were twice as likely to enter perimenopause sooner than their non-depressed peers.

Compared with non-depressed study participants, women with a history of depression had higher follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels and lower estrogen levels, the investigators note.


Women with a lifetime history of depression, as well as an earlier perimenopause onset, may spend a prolonged amount of time in a low-estrogen state, which has been tied to a number of health problems, the researchers note.


"Our research may encourage more screening for depression symptoms and history by gynecologists," lead author Dr. Bernard L. Harlow said in a statement. "Similarly, psychiatrists may also focus more attention on menstrual cycle changes and perimenopausal symptoms while screening late reproductive-aged patients with recurrent mood disorder."

[Leenie]

Thanks Linny !!!!

[april99]

I was 42 when I started to have hot flashes....My doctor said I was too young to have hot flashes......but I knew they were hot flashes....had never had them before & they continued as I got older.

Even back then I was depressed.....so maybe it was the start of perimenopause at 42.

April

[liz321]

Was your doctor a man?????


Liz

[april99]

Liz.....yes my doctor was a man!!!!!!!!! He is the same one who said.....you know everything about counselling & you don't need to try light therapy!!!!!!!!!!!! I am quite disappointed in him....the light therapy seems to be working...but try to get a new doctor....where I live....there are 10,000 people without a doctor.

Just because I was an RN & had counselling in the late 80's....that doesn't mean I know everything about counselling. I would like to tell him off....but I won't.

April