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The Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles
(from Archives of General Psychiatry)
An article published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry pointed out that women with a history of depression may enter perimenopause sooner than women who have never suffered from depression. Results of the study describe that women with a history of depression had 1.2 times the rate of perimenopause of women with no such history. Compared with nondepressed women, depressed women with more pronounced depressive symptoms at study enrollment as measured by the Hamilton had twice the risk of an earlier perimenopausal transition.
The authors, Harlow, Wise et al. point out that women with a lifetime history of depression also had higher follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels and lower estradiol levels at study enrollment and during the follow-up period after adjustment for covariates. They conclude that a lifetime history of major depression may be associated with an early decline in ovarian function.
Study comments
The authors comments are particularly interesting in that while looking for biological markers for menopause, in addition to depression “one of the strongest risk factors for an early onset of menopause is cigarette smoking, and our group has shown that cigarette smoking is also associated with depression. However, most studies have not assessed the temporal relationship between this association. Our group has shown in an earlier report that depressed women are at greater risk of becoming smokers, and smokers are also more likely to develop mood disorder.”
An association between a lifetime history of depression and an earlier transition to perimenopause may result in a prolonged exposure to a hypoestrogenic state, which has been associated with bone density loss, sexual dysfunction, a decline in cognitive function, and a potential increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Likewise, there are substantial morbidity and economic burden associated with major depression.
Full text article
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