Hormone profiles and psychological symptoms in peri-menopausal women

Hormone profiles for oestradiol, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, androstenedione, prolactin, cortisol, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and triiodothyronine are presented for 85 peri-menopausal women. All subjects completed the 60-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and 48 were interviewed using a standardized psychiatric interview. Some alterations in endocrine function were detected prior to the cessation of menstrual periods and there were changes in prolactin, cortisol, TSH and triiodothyronine in relation to menopausal status as well as in ovarian steroids and gonadotrophins. In comparison with other subjects, women with menorrhagia had higher circulating levels of oestradiol in the last week of the menstrual cycle and elevated prolactin levels. Women with high scores on the GHQ in the early post-menopausal years had significantly higher circulating levels of oestradiol than other subjects of the same menopausal status. No other significant difference in levels of reproductive hormones between high scorers and low scorers on the GHQ was detected. Women in the late pre-menopausal group who were clinically depressed had significantly higher levels of TSH and triiodothyronine than other subjects. These changes in thyroid function in the late pre-menopausal group may be related to the increase in psychiatric morbidity in the immediately pre-menopausal years reported in previous studies.