Age at menarche and depression at the age of 31 years: Findings from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study

Herva, Anne; Jokelainen, Jari; Pouta, Anneli; Veijola, Juha; Timonen, Markku; Karvonen, Juha T.; Joukamaa, Matti

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2004.01.008

« Previous Next »Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Volume 57, Issue 4 , Pages 359-362, October 2004

Age at menarche and depression at the age of 31 years:

Findings from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study

Anne Herva
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +358-50-569-2967; fax: +358-8-333-167.
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Oulu, Oulu, PL 26, FIN-90029 OYS, Finland
Jari Jokelainen
- Departments of Public Health Science and General Practice, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Unit of General Practice, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
Anneli Pouta
- Departments of Public Health Science and General Practice, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
- Unit of General Practice, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Juha Veijola
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Muurola Hospital, Hospital District of Lapland, Finland
Markku Timonen
- Oulu Health Centre, Oulu, Finland
Juha T. Karvonen
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Oulu, Oulu, PL 26, FIN-90029 OYS, Finland
Matti Joukamaa
- Department of Social Psychiatry, Tampere school of Public Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
- Department of Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

Received 7 July 2003; accepted 5 January 2004.

Abstract

Objective

Early age at menarche has been found to be associated with higher oestrogen levels among girls around the onset of puberty and in early adulthood. The role of oestrogen in depression is not clear, although it affects serotonergic functions in the central nervous system (CNS). We wanted to test the hypothesis that age at menarche is associated with depression in young adulthood.

Methods

The material consisted of 3952 women born in 1966 in Northern Finland. Depression was defined by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), the use of antidepressants and by self-reported lifetime depression diagnosed by physician. Menarcheal age was divided as 9–11, 12–15 and 16 years or over.

Results

The prevalence of depression was 1.8-fold in current depression, 2.8-fold in the use of antidepressants and 2.1-fold in self-reported physician-diagnosed depression in women with menarche at the age of 16 years or later. After adjusting for confounders, the significant positive association between current depression and late menarche remained, but the use of antidepressants and depression diagnosed by physician had not statistically significant association with the age of menarche.