[Depression frequency in premenopausal and postmenopausal women].

BACKGROUND

It is known that hormonal changes influences mood, so the woman shows notorious hormonal changes in stages of her life.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the difference in the frequency of depression in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

METHODS

We studied 371 premenopausal and postmenopausal women who didn’t receive hormonal treatment and in which Hamilton depression scale was applied. Descriptive statistics, central tendency and dispersion measures were used. The comparison between the groups was with Student t test, and Chi squared test. Pearson’s correlation analysis was done between age, body mass index and Hamilton scale score. In the postmenopausal women, the time since menopause was also correlated with Hamilton scale score.

RESULTS

Premenopausal women were predominantly healthy (46.6%). In perimenopausal women predominated minor depression (21.4%) and in postmenopausal women, major depression (59.3%).

CONCLUSION

Postmenopausal women more frequently had a higher score than those premenopausal.