Perimenopausal Estrogen Replacement Therapy Study (PERT)

Study Background and Objectives: In the U.S. the majority of heart disease deaths are in women, not men. Much of the gender disparity in CVD rates relate to the burden of CV risk in women after the menopause. Depression has been associated with an increased risk for CVD morbidity and mortality. Even histories of recurrent depression in euthymic individuals are associated with elevated CV risk. Understanding the depression-CVD link may have particular relevance for women since women experience depression at a rate twice that of men. Substantial convergent evidence indicates that ovarian failure (estrogen deprivation) is one likely mechanism contributing to both CVD and depression in women. The perimenopause, a time associated with a two-fold increase in rates of depression, may provide an ideal opportunity for studying the pathophysiology of CV risk and depression in women.

The primary objective of this study is to examine the prophylactic role of estradiol in the development of depressive symptoms and the progression of cardiovascular risk in perimenopausal women with or without histories of depression. The investigators predict that women susceptible to depression will be particularly vulnerable to the acceleration of CVD in the context of the perimenopause and, consequently, will show differentially greater benefit of estradiol treatment during the menopause transition for both indices of CV risk (e.g. inflammation, endothelial function, stress reactivity), as well as depressive symptoms.