title: Psychological status at the menopausal transition: an Italian epidemiological study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide epidemiological data about psychological symptoms derived from a large Italian non-clinical sample, and to investigate the correlation with psychosocial factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study design was a cross-sectional postal survey of a sample of menopausal women recruited from the General Registry Office in Ferrara's province. Four thousands and seventy-three women were sent a questionnaire designed on the basis of the Women Health Questionnaire (WHQ). Together with the WHQ, women were asked to fill out a personal file to define social status, cultural level, family's characteristics, recent menstrual cycles, gynaecological history and operations, drug's assumption, life events in the last year and lifetime depression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis resulted in eight clusters of symptoms. Among psychiatric symptoms, three different clusters were identified: depressive symptoms, depressed mood with anxiety symptoms, and anxiety. The cluster "depressive symptoms" was more evident in the postmenopausal period with respect to the premenopausal one.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cluster "depressive symptoms" is significantly different in the premenopausal group with respect to the postmenopausal group, with greater levels of symptomatology in the postmenopausal group. On the contrary, the factor "depressed mood with anxiety symptoms" is present to the same extent in the pre-, peri- and postmenopausal groups. Prior depression is the most predictive variable of subsequent depression in postmenopausal women. Factors related to more pronounced depressive symptoms are number of life events, postmenopausal status, place of residence in rural areas and lower cultural level.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Sezione di Psichiatria, Università di Parma, p. le Matteotti 9, 43100, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amore
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Donato
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papalini
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.forename: Aldopaolo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palareti
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chirico
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Aloysio
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008593:Menopause / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011584:Psychology; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires