ASSOCIATED FACTORS TO PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY IN POSTMENOPAUSAL PHASES

Background: The greatest risk of psychiatric morbidity during the clim acteric years is linked to a greater exposure to stressful life experi ences, women's dissatisfaction with their role in society and to an ab sence of social backup. The question to be posed now is the extent to which the longitudinal surveys can confirm, refute or complement the r esults of the cross-sectional analyses. Methods: A study involving pop ulation-based cohorts was carried out on a sample of 120 women who had been previously identified as being premenopausal or menopausal durin g a cross-sectional examination conducted between 1987 and 1988 within the city of Valencia (Spain). The aims were to analyze the movements of specific psychosocial factors (role satisfaction, level of social s upport) making a comparison between the premenopausal and postmenopaus al phases. Results: An increase in the frequency of psychiatric episod es was detected in the later stages of the climacteric. The absence of global social support, being a possible psychiatric case and experien cing severe life events during the initial phases of the climacteric a ll emerge as being the most reliable factors for predicting the psychi atric morbidity during the postmenopausal phase. Conclusions: The resu lts lend weight to the hypothesis of psychiatric morbidity being linke d to social changes. A discussion of the clinical implications is pres ented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.