Musculo-skeletal pain, psychological distress, and hormones during the menopausal transition.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between sex hormones (estradiol, testosterone, androstendione, DHEA-S) and prolactin on one hand and musculo-skeletal pain and psychological distress on the other during the menopausal transition.


METHODS
Fifty-seven regularly menstruating women, who were studied over five consecutive years, who reached menopause before the fifth assessment, and did not use hormone replacement therapy were included in the study. Hormones were sampled and a questionnaire including questions on psychological distress and musculo-skeletal pain were administered at the five points of assessment. Data on last year before menopause (T1), first (T2) and second (T3) year after menopause are reported.


RESULTS
DHEA-S, but neither testosterone nor androstendione, was inversely related to distress and pain. Pain contributed to the variance of DHEA-S over the menopausal transition, whereas DHEA-S levels did not predict pain or distress when baseline levels were controlled for. Prolactin was at T1 and T2 positively associated with distress and at T2 positively associated with musculo-skeletal pain. Musculo-skeletal pain pre-menopause was significantly related to estradiol.


CONCLUSIONS
DHEA-S was negatively associated, and prolactin positively associated with musculo-skeletal pain and psychological distress. Whereas post-menopause DHEA-S levels were influenced by pain scores, no significant effect of pre-menopause hormones on post-menopause pain and distress was found.
Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, POB 1111 Blindern, Oslo 0317, Norway. arnstein.finset@basalmed.uio.no
Arnstein
A
Finset
Inger
I
Øverlie
Arne
A
Holte
D000735:Androstenedione / Q000097:blood; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000097:blood*; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009141:Musculoskeletal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010146:Pain / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood
D013739:Testosterone; D000735:Androstenedione; D004958:Estradiol; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D011388:Prolactin