Perimenopause and Depression: More Evidence of Increased Risk

The perimenopausal years, when women transition from regular cycling to termination of ovulation and menstruation, have long been recognized as a time of heightened risk for depressive symptoms. Researchers in the NIH-funded Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles surveyed premenopausal women (age, 36–45) and studied 460 respondents with no history of depression. About three quarters of this cohort were college graduates; ethnicity was not reported. During up to 6 years of follow-up, 134 respondents remained premenopausal, and 326 became perimenopausal according to predefined criteria.

Women who had entered perimenopause were almost twice as likely as premenopausal women to develop depressive symptoms (32.5% vs. 20%) or clinical depression (16.6% …