DHEA-S levels and depressive symptoms in a cohort of African American and Caucasian women in the late reproductive years

Background: The objective of this study was to elucidate the associations o f dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels and depressive symptoms in African American and Caucasian women in the late reproductive years, a tra nsitional age zone preceding the perimenopause, in which ovarian aging and associated endocrine changes begin. We had hypothesized that lower levels o f DHEA-S would be associated with depressive symptoms and that, because DHE A-S levels decline with increasing age, older women would have an increased prevalence of depressive symptoms. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a population-based urban sample re cruited through random digit telephone dialing. The sample was 338 women be tween the ages of 35 and 47 years with regular menses. Half the sample was African American and half was Caucasian. Results: Higher DHEA-S levels were associated with depressive symptoms in w omen in the younger half of this cohort. Lower DHEA-S levels were associate d with depressive symptoms in the women in the older half of this cohort. T he direction of the relationship of DHEA-S and depressive symptoms changes with age, being a positive relationship in younger women and an inverse rel ationship in the older women in this cohort. This change in the direction o f the relationship appears to occur at a younger age in African American wo men. Conclusions: Our hypothesis of a relationship between low DHEA-S levels and elevated depressive symptoms was supported only in the older women in this cohort. Unexpectedly, younger women in this cohort demonstrated a positive association between DHEA-S levels and depressive symptoms. Changes in DHEA -S levels, depressive symptoms, and the relationship of other hormones in t he hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis need to be better understood in prem enopausal women approaching perimenopause. (C) 2001 Society of Biological P sychiatry.