A new study by UNC professors suggests women transitioning into menopause may be able to reduce the risk of depression symptoms through hormone therapy.
“We know that midlife for women, particularly in the transition to menopause, is a time of substantial elevations in risk for depression,” said Susan Girdler, professor of psychiatry and psychology who helped lead the research. “During the menopause transition, our risk for depression actually increases two to four times. And that’s true even for women who haven’t had a history of depression early in life.”
The study, comprised of 172 women between the ages of 45 and 60 in the Triangle area, sought participants that showed evidence of entering the stage of perimenopause. Perimenopause is the period when women begin to show signs of entering menopause, such as irregular menstrual cycles. It can also encompass the early years following the appearance of these menopause signs, as the transition can progress in unpredictable ways.
The participants were randomly selected and put into two separate groups. One group received transdermal estradiol on a daily basis, which is a skin patch that delivers 0.1 milligrams of estrogen to patients. The other group received a placebo patch at the same daily rate that did not affect their hormonal make-up. The hormone therapy process ensued for a year.
After the year of treatment, more than 30 percent of the randomized placebo group developed clinically significant depression. That result was cut nearly in half for the group randomized to the transdermal estradiol treatment, with only 17 percent of women developing the same depression symptoms.
“There are certain kinds of indications for women where it would not be appropriate to give them transdermal estradiol,” Girdler said. “But in women who are eligible for it, the main finding suggests, ‘Wow, you know, you really might be able to prevent the development of depression in a substantial portion of women during the menopause transition and, therefore, reduce their suffering.’”
David Rubinow, chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry, said they considered many factors that may put participants at risk before choosing who would be randomly selected for the hormone therapy. Rubinow said one of these factors is if a potential participant had a personal or family history of breast cancer because it is a disease that can be sensitive to estrogen and potentially respond to hormone therapy. Other factors the conductors of the study considered include a history of major blood clots and evidence of dysfunction in any major organs.
Rubinow noted that women who experienced significant life stresses six months prior to the study, such as loss of a loved one or divorce, benefited more from the hormone treatment than participants who had not experienced those kind of stressful events.
“This is also of interest because it may, if these findings are subsequently replicated, help to identify an at-risk population that will allow for more precision therapeutics,” Rubinow said.
