Resilience, Depressed Mood, and Menopausal Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women

Objective: This study aims to assess resilience, depressed mood, and menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 169 postmenopausal women aged 48 to 68 years were asked to fill out the Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale (WYRS), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), and a questionnaire containing personal and partner sociodemographic data.

Results: The median [interquartile range] age of participating women was 54 [10.0] years. Among the women, 55.6% had increased body mass index, 76.9% had a partner, 17.8% were current smokers, 14.2% had hypertension, 25.4% used psychotropic drugs, and 13.0% used hormone therapy. Forty-five percent of the women had depressed mood (CESD-10 scores ≥10), and 34.9% had severe menopausal symptoms (total MRS scores ≥17). Less resilience (lower WYRS scores) correlated with depressed mood (higher CESD-10 scores) and severe menopausal symptoms (higher total, psychological, and urogenital MRS scores). Multiple linear regression analysis determined that WYRS scores positively correlated with exercising regularly and inversely correlated with CESD-10 scores (depressed mood). CESD-10 scores positively correlated with somatic and psychological MRS subscale scores and inversely correlated with WYRS scores (less resilience).

Conclusions: In this postmenopausal sample, depressed mood and participation in regular exercise correlate with lower and higher resilience, respectively. Depressed mood is associated with the severity of menopausal symptoms (somatic and psychological).