Depressed mood during the menopausal transition: is it reproductive aging or is it life?

Background: Although there has been noteworthy attention to both depressed mood symptoms and majordepressive disorder during the menopausal transition (MT), recently investigators have questioned whether there is an over-pathologizing of the MT by emphasizing hormonal effects on depression and deflecting attention from the everyday conditions of women's lives as they relate to depressed mood. In addition, fluctuation of mood over short periods of time may not be captured by measures of depressed mood symptoms such as the CESD, especially when administered using a reference period such as a week or more. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of menopausal transition factors, health-related factors, stress factors, social factors and symptoms with repeated measures of depressed mood reported for a 24 h period.

Methods: Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study participants (n = 291, 6977 observations) provided data from 1990 to 2013 including annual questionnaires, symptom diaries and urine specimens assayed for hormones several times per year. Multilevel modeling was used to test bivariate and multivariable models accounting for depressed mood severity.

Results: In individual models with age as the measure of time, being in early postmenopause, exercising more, and being partnered were associated with less severe depressed mood; greater perceived stress, having a history of sexual abuse, difficulty getting to sleep, early awakening, and awakening at night were each associated with higher depressed mood severity. In a multivariable model (n = 234, 6766 observations), being older, being in the early postmenopause, exercising more, being partnered, were associated with less severe depressed mood; reporting greater perceived stress, history of sexual abuse, difficulty getting to sleep and early awakening were associated with more severe depressed mood.

Conclusions: Clinicians need to consider the context in which midlife women experience the menopausal transition and mood symptoms as well as hormonal transitions during this part of the lifespan.