Abstract
As the Australian population ages, significantly more women are entering the postmenopausal stage of the climacteric, yet research focusing on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in this stage of ovarian ageing is scarce. This review will examine the information provided by studies that have a cohort with data of adequate duration to explore depressive symptom prevalence in the early and late postmenopause. Longitudinal epidemiological studies of women transitioning through the postmenopause that included measures of mood and/or depressive symptoms were identified through searches of MEDLINE (1980-2014) and PsycINFO (1980-2014) databases. Population based studies with at least two time points of assessment were included. Longitudinal studies of ageing that did not categorise women as postmenopausal were not included, as this was outside the scope of this review.Prevalence estimates of depressive symptoms varied between studies and ranged from 8.5 % to 25.7 % with percentages between 22 and 25 % being most consistently reported. Surgical postmenopause groups reported higher ratings of depressive symptoms at 18-42 % and higher incidence of major depressive disorder in all but one study. The prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder also varied with ranges from <1 % to 42 % reported. Wide ranges in prevalence were reported in the literature. Differences in definitions, inconsistent sample sizes and varying measures make it difficult to compare results across studies. The specific inclusions and exclusions of sub-samples of larger cohorts are at times inconsistent with epidemiological acquisition and, as such, impact upon generalizability of results to a healthy population.
Highlights
Research consistently demonstrates a higher occurrence of depressive disorders and depressive symptoms in women compared to men [1, 2]
There is limited literature examining the period of time directly following the final menstrual period, a physiological marker corresponding to the onset of early postmenopause
As postmenopausal women were excluded at baseline, the maximum length of time since final menstrual period was approximately four years
Summary
Research consistently demonstrates a higher occurrence of depressive disorders and depressive symptoms in women compared to men [1, 2] This difference has been demonstrated in a variety of contexts including population studies, hospital admissions, suicide attempts and the prescription of anti-depressant medication [3]. It has been proposed that changes in ovarian sex steroids may be a contributing factor in the higher vulnerability for women to develop a depressive disorder [5]. For this reason it has been suggested that there are certain windows of. With the recent updates to the staging system used to characterise menopausal status [9], the consistent definition of the postmenopausal stages will allow for a greater understanding of depressive symptoms in this particular stage of reproductive ageing
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