Patterns of depressed mood in midlife women: Observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study

To differentiate women who experience patterns of depressed mood with respect to their perceptions of menopausal changes and those that were part of everyday life, women (N=347) from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study were studied. Women participated in in-depth interviews, kept symptom diaries, and responded to mailed health updates. Data for years 1 and 2 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale revealed four patterns of depressed mood: consistent depressed mood, emerging depressed mood, resolving depressed mood, and absence of depressed mood. Discriminant function analyses differentiated women with consistent, emerging, and resolving depressed mood from those with absence of depressed mood. Patterns of depressed mood were related to stressful life context, past/present health status, and social learning about midlife. Menopausal status did not differentiate women with patterns of depressed mood from those without depressed mood. Vasomotor symptoms, history of premenstrual syndrome, and postpartum blues helped differentiate women with consistently depressed mood from those recovering from depressed mood.