Conditions: Menopausal Depression
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 2
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
This protocol is a controlled study of estradiol therapy in early postmenopausal women with and without frequent hot flashes that will be used to determine whether hot flashes are an important intermediary in the generation of menopause-associated depression.

Detailed description:
SPECIFIC AIMS (Research Objectives)

To define the relative effects of hot flashes and changes in estradiol on mood in postmenopausal women:

Hypotheses:

1. Estrogen treatment has a similar therapeutic effect on mood in women with and without frequent hot flashes
2. Estradiol levels correlate with improvement in mood

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Estradiol intervention 2: Placebo control
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Oral estradiol 1.0 mg/day for four weeks. intervention 2: Placebo control matched to estradiol tablets. Daily dosing for one month.

Protocol document: