Menopause hormone therapy is FDA approved for other common menopause symptoms but not for mood disturbances.In an observational study, women using menopause hormone therapy had significantly improved scores for psychological symptoms, including depressive mood, irritability, anxiety, and mental exhaustion.The proportion of patients with severe mood symptoms decreased from 62.3% at baseline to 24.6% at follow-up.
Use of systemic hormone therapy for menopause was associated with improvements in mood symptoms, a retrospective observational study suggested.
At a mean follow-up of 4.5 months, women starting on hormone therapy showed significantly improved scores for psychological symptoms on the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS; 0 being asymptomatic and 4 being very severe), including depressive mood, irritability, anxiety, and mental exhaustion (mean difference -2.7, 95% CI -3.05 to -2.34, P<0.001).
Those with severe baseline psychological symptoms had the most improved scores (mean change -3.85) compared with women with mild (-0.47) or moderate (-0.89) symptoms, according to researchers led by Samantha Fairweather, MD, of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues.
Moreover, the proportion of patients with severe mood symptoms decreased from 62.3% at baseline to 24.6% at follow-up, and sleep scores also improved (mean difference -1.0, 95% CI -1.13 to -0.86, P<0.001), they wrote in Menopause.
