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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Perimenopause may raise risk of one mental health condition by 40%, | |
study finds | |
By Kristen Rogers, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:05 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
In the years leading up to menopause, a person can experience a , | |
including emotional shifts such as depression. Now, a new study has | |
quantified the risk of depression during the transition, known as | |
perimenopause — showing that women in this stage are about 40% more | |
likely to experience the mental health condition than premenopausal | |
women. | |
“Our findings show just how significantly the mental health of | |
perimenopausal women can suffer during this time,” said Dr. Aimee | |
Spector, corresponding author of the in the Journal of Affective | |
Disorders, . “We need greater awareness and support to ensure they | |
receive appropriate help and care both medically, in the workplace and | |
at home.” | |
Spector is also a professor of clinical psychology of aging in the | |
division of psychology and language sciences at University College | |
London. | |
Perimenopause typically occurs about three to five years before | |
menopause, a day that marks 12 months without menstruation and signals | |
the end of a woman’s reproductive life. The transitional stage is a | |
natural process prompted when the ovaries gradually stop working, | |
according to . During this time, estrogen and progesterone levels can | |
fluctuate, leading to mood swings, irregular menstrual cycles and other | |
symptoms such as depression. | |
The authors conducted the study — which is a review of seven studies | |
totaling 9,141 women — to provide an estimate for the risk of | |
developing clinical, diagnosed depression or depressive symptoms at | |
different menopausal stages. The women, who were from the United | |
States, Australia, China, the Netherlands and Switzerland, had provided | |
information on their moods and interest in doing activities. | |
The authors didn’t find a significant difference in risk of | |
depression for postmenopausal women compared with premenopausal women. | |
“These findings are consistent with what is known about the | |
vulnerability women have for depressive symptoms during | |
perimenopause,” which has been shown in , said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, | |
medical director of The Menopause Society and the Penny and Bill George | |
Director for the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health in | |
Minnesota. Faubion wasn’t involved in the study. | |
A systematic review of the existing literature on perimenopausal | |
depression is what drove for the evaluation and treatment of depression | |
during perimenopause. | |
Monitoring your moods in transition | |
Cultural factors or lifestyle changes have sometimes been used to | |
explain depressive symptoms women experience during the years before | |
menopause, but the combined data from global studies indicate the | |
findings can’t be attributed to those factors alone, said lead study | |
author Yasmeen Badawy, who was a masters student in the division of | |
psychology and language sciences at University College London when she | |
conducted the research. Badawy is now an associate graduate mental | |
health worker at the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS | |
Trust in London. | |
“It appears to (be) the variability in hormone levels — rather than | |
absolute levels — that can trigger these symptoms in vulnerable | |
individuals,” Faubion said. “It is also likely that a variety of | |
factors play a role, including genetics, the environment, level of | |
education, access to care and other social determinants of health, and | |
level of social support.” | |
Estrogen, for one, has been found to affect the metabolism of | |
neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, β-endorphin and | |
serotonin, all of which have a role in emotional states, the authors | |
said. | |
Given these risk factors, it’s important for clinicians to be mindful | |
that women transitioning into menopause may experience depressive | |
symptoms or major episodes, and to ask patients about their moods, | |
Faubion said. That’s especially necessary if they have had past | |
issues with mood, such as depression or hormone-related mood problems | |
such as those experienced in premenstrual or postpartum stages. | |
“Depression is a chronic disease that is typically recurrent over the | |
lifetime,” said Dr. Rebecca Thurston, Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in | |
Women’s Health and Dementia at the University of Pittsburgh, who | |
wasn’t involved in the study. “We know that these episodes can | |
snowball — if left untreated, they can become increasingly severe. | |
This underscores the importance of not ignoring symptoms and getting | |
them treated.” | |
Learning your own early warning signs of a depressive episode can be | |
helpful for the purpose of early treatment, said Thurston, who is also | |
a psychologist treating depression in women who are in midlife. And | |
doctors should develop and maintain relationships with mental health | |
providers to whom they can refer patients diagnosed with depression. | |
“I also recommend that doctors follow up with the women to ensure | |
they are getting care,” she said. “They should also consider | |
treating menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes if significantly | |
interfering with a woman’s life.” | |
A variety of either pharmaceutical or evidence-based behavioral | |
treatments are available, and sometimes women need both, Thurston | |
added. by the same authors found that mindfulness and cognitive | |
behavioral therapy could be an effective treatment for nonphysical | |
symptoms related to menopause. | |
And having close friends can be a buffer for depressive episodes, | |
Thurston has found as a principal investigator of the national | |
longitudinal study of the midlife transition called the Study of | |
Women’s Health Across the Nation, or SWAN. | |
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