Depression and anxiety in menopausal women: associated factors

PURPOSE: to determine the prevalence of depression and anxiety in climacteric women and the probable factors responsible for its occurrence. METHODS: a transversal study that has selected 93 women attended at a climacteric outpatient clinic, from May 2006 to August 2007. Inclusion criteria were: women from 40 to 65 years old who agreed with participating in the project. Exclusion criteria: patients in hormonal therapy, hormone-therapy by implant, DIUs and depo injections in the preceding six months, endocrinopathies leading to menstrual irregularities, hepatopathies, thrombopathies, use of drugs which interfere in the menstrual cycle, anxiolytics and antidepressants (as their use indicates previous diagnosis of mood disorders), hysterectomy, oophorectomy, cancer or psychiatric disease, and patients who had been submitted to radio or chemotherapy. During the interview, four questionnaires were applied: Anamnesis, containing socio-demographic, clinical and living habits data; Blatt-Kupperman's Menopausal Index for climacteric syndrome diagnosis; Anxiety sub-scale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS-A) for anxiety diagnosis; and Beck's Depression Inventory for the diagnosis of depression. Descriptive and correlation analysis among the variables, chi(2) and Hosmer-Lemeshow tests were performed using the Statistica Software program, version 6. RESULTS: the average depression prevalence among the patients was 36.8%, while that of anxiety was 53.7%. There was no significant difference between the prevalence of depression and anxiety in the three phases of climacterium. There was a significant relationship between the presence of moderate climacteric symptoms and the presence of mood alterations (p<0.001). Depression was more frequent in women with anxiety (OR=4.2) and insomnia (OR=4.9), having a job being a protection factor (OR=0.2). Risk factors related to anxiety were the presence of depression (OR=6.1) and antecedents of pre-menstrual tension (OR=7.0). CONCLUSIONS: the prevalence of depression and anxiety is high in climacterium, being possible to detect risk factors related to their occurrence.