Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Studies were included if hormone therapy was used, and if outcome data on at least one quantitative measure of depression or depressed mood was reported.
There were no restrictions on the study designs included in the review. Studies utilised placebo control groups, no-treatment control groups, treatment versus placebo crossover design, and no control group.
The length of treatment ranged from 1 month to 2 years.
Specific interventions included in the review
HRT. The treatments included oestrogen alone, progesterone alone and in combination with oestrogen, and androgen alone and in combination with oestrogen.
The most common oestrogen treatment was premarin, taken orally at a dosage of either 0.625 or 1.25 mg/day. The most common type of progesterone used was norethisterone.
Participants included in the review
The mean age of the participants was 49.5 years (standard deviation 3.02).
Menopausal status: 16 studies (61.5%) utilised only postmenopausal participants, 2 studies (7.7%) used only perimenopausal participants, and 6 studies (23.1%) used both postmenopausal and perimenopausal participants. The remaining 2 studies (7.7%) did not report the menopausal status of their participants.
Symptomology: most of the studies (61.5%) utilised women who were experiencing menopausal symptoms, 3 studies (11.5%) employed women who were not experiencing menopausal symptoms, and 7 studies (26.9%) failed to report whether participants were symptomatic.
Participant recruitment: 11 studies (42.3%) recruited participants from menopausal clinics, 7 studies (26.9%) used another form of recruitment (e.g. referral from private practices, recruitment through newspaper advertisements), and 8 studies (30.8%) did not report how the participants were recruited.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Depression was measured. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Beck Depression Inventory were the most commonly used measures of depression. Other measures were: Blatt Menopausal Inventory, MMPI, Sabbatsberg, Kupperman Index, Visual Analogue Scale, Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, Kellner and Schefield's, Daily Menopausal Rating Scale, MAACL, POMS, Leeds Scale, and the Psychological General Well-being Scale.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors do not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many of the authors performed the selection.