Open AccessTHE INFLUENCE OF OESTROGENS ON THE WELLBEING AND MENTAL PERFORMANCE IN CLIMACTERIC AND POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN
Author(s) -
FedorFreybergh Peter
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.3109/00016347709156459
Subject(s) - medicine , climacteric , obstetrics and gynaecology , psychiatry , family medicine , menopause , pregnancy , biology , genetics
Studies were conducted on the effect of estrogen on the mental and psychosomatic disorders and mental performance in 27 patients with climacteric symptoms and 25 postmenopausal women who had been amenorrheic for at least 1 year. Both groups were treated with estrogen and a progestogen cyclically for 6 months. A group of 21 postmenopausal women were divided into 2 subgroups 11 were treated with estrogen and 10 received placebo in a double-blind procedure. Social status parity education and occupation were similar in all groups. All patients received a general physical and gynecological examination and metabolic screening. Each patient was examined by means of a series of psychological tests inventories and rating scales for degree of neuroticism distress depression sexual function information-processing capacity and psychosomatic complaints. There was a decrease of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone in the estrogen-treated postmenopausal women at 3 and 6 months of treatment; levels in estrogen-treated premenopausal women and in the placebo group were unchanged. Climacteric and postmenopausal patients initially showed a higher than standard degree of neuroticism as measured by the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Estrogen-treated patients showed a statistically significant decrease in contrast to an increase in placebo patients. In the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Sabbatsberg Distress Self-Rating Scale estrogen-treated groups improved significantly while the placebo group showed a deterioration. Performance tests of estrogen-treated patients particularly in complex tasks showed improved information-processing capacity. An improvement was noted on the Sabbatsberg General Symptoms Rating Scale and Sabbatsberg Sexual Self Rating Scale. In self-report estrogen-treated patients considered themselves improved while placebo patients reported the opposite. These findings suggest that estrogen deficiency should be treated to restore somatic mental and social well-being.