Pilot Study of Hormone Replacement Therapy and Menopausal Symptoms,Depression,and Quality of Life in Korean Climacteric Women

Abstract

This cross-sectional survey compared scores on the Menopausal Symptoms Index, Depression, and the Quality of Life for 65 Korean climacteric women receiving regular hormone replacement therapy (M age = 52.8 yr., SD = 63) and 70 Korean climacteric patients not receiving such therapy (M age = 51.6 yr., SD = 7.1). Depression scores were positively correlated with the Menopausal Symptoms Index in both groups (r = .58 in the Therapy group and r = .50 in the Control group) and negatively correlated with scores for Quality of Life (r = −.48 in the Therapy group and r = −.68 in the Control group). Scores on the Menopausal Symptoms Index were negatively correlated with ratings of Quality of Life in both groups (r = −.53 in the Therapy group and r = −.45 in the Control group). These results suggest that hormone replacement therapy is associated with reduced Depression scores and higher Quality of Life scores in this sample of Korean climacteric women.