Female Psychopathologic profile during menopausal transition: A preliminary study

Objectives: To evaluate the psychopathological profile and the incidence of major depressive disorders in consecutive women
attending a Menopause Clinic.
Methods: Women attending outpatient menopause clinic at Filippo del Ponte Hospital in Varese (Italy), referring to the centre
from 1 March to 30 April 2005, were invited to fill up a specific questionnaire while waiting for the visit. The questionnaire
included demographics and history (e.g. current or past use of antidepressant drugs); symptoms check list (SCL-90-R); Beck
depression inventory (BDI).
Results: Sixty-four women were enrolled to the study. On the SCL-90-R, “somatic” symptoms cluster was the most frequent.
Patients diagnosed as depressed using the Beck depression inventory (BDI) were 18 (28.1%). Thirteen (70%) of currently
depressed women presented a positive history of depressive disorders. The analysis of depressed women according to previous
depressive disorders revealed higher scores for women with positive history in both scales. Depressed patients have a significantly
lower mean age compared to non-depressed patients (53.3 ± 6.2 years versus 57.33 ± 4.9 years, p = 0.023).
Conclusions: Our preliminary data show a high correlation between a history of depressive disorder and recurrence of depression
in the menopausal period. Perimenopause seems to be a higher risk period for the development of a depressive disease compared
to menopausal status. The somatization cluster warrants further investigation