Depression: the predictive influence of life events and menopausal status by Prof. Filipa Pimenta given during the 9th European Congress on Menopause and Andropause powered by - MULTIWEBCAST

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Objective: It has been observed that women in peri- and post-menopause can report high levels of depression (e.g., Bromberger et al., 2007). This study aims to explore if life events and menopausal status, controlling for confounding variables, can predict depression in middle-aged women.
Method: A community sample of 1,003 Portuguese women, aged between 42 and 60 years old, in pre-, peri- or post-menopause, filled in a questionnaire to collect socio-demographic, health and menopause-related, and lifestyle information. Menopausal status was determined using the STRAW criteria (Soules et al., 2001). Depression levels were measured with a validated version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (Pais-Ribeiro et al., 2004). Structured equation modelling was used to build a causal model between the dependent variable (depression) and the several independent ones (socio-demographic, health and menopause-related characteristics, lifestyle and life events).
Results: Significant predictors of depression included educational level (β=-.101; p=.005), parity (β=.070; p=.016), annual family’s income (β=-.109; p=.002), transition from peri- to post-menopause (β=.136; p=.004), psychological health status (β=.250; p<.001), physical health status (β=.065; p=.027) and life events (β=-.431; p<.001).
Conclusion: Although menopausal status was a significant predictor of depression (namely, the transition from peri- to post-menopause but not the transition from pre- to peri-menopause), the presence of stressful life events seems to be a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms. Other variables should be accounted, in middle-aged women, as risk factors for the development of depression (specifically, lower education and income, higher parity, and the presence of a health or a psychological problem).

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