Chronobiological basis of female-specific mood disorders

Women have twice the incidence of major depression compared with men. They are prone to develop episodes of depression during times of reproductive ho rmonal change at puberty, with use of oral contraceptives, during the preme nstrual phase of the menstrual cycle, postpartum and during the perimenopau se (see review: Parry 1995a). Wirz-Justice (1995) describes the variety of disturbances in biological rhythms observed in mood disorders. In this repo rt, we describe the chronobiological disturbances observed in female-specif ic mood disorders, namely, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, pregnancy and p ostpartum depression and menopause. We hypothesize that changing reproducti ve hormones, by affecting the synchrony or coherence between components of the circadian system, may alter amplitude or phase (timing) relationships a nd thereby contribute to the development of mood disorders in predisposed i ndividuals. (C) 2001 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.