Associations between sex hormones, sleep problems and depression 231 hospitalized for depression, the PMS/PMDD patients (from Baker et al., 2012; Shechter et al., 2012) were diagnosed by prospectively tracking two cycles of PMS/PMDD symptoms. The remaining ten studies only included non-depressed patients or had a mixed group of both depressed and nondepressed participants. Study setups and sample sizes are displayed in Figure 8.2. 3.3. Hormone interventions and/or assessments The study by Ben Dor et al. (2013) both intervened in and monitored sex steroids. Five studies monitored the menstrual cycle and the co-occurring changes in mood and sleep during the cycle (Baker et al., 2012; Kravitz et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2000; Li et al., 2015; Shechter et al., 2012); these studies generally divided the cycle in the follicular phase (the first and second week of the cycle, which starts after onset of menses and ends with an ovulation, with relatively low progesterone and estrogen levels) and the luteal phase (the third and fourth week of the cycle, in which progesterone levels peak). Two studies, based on the same participant group, monitored absolute sex hormone levels over longer periods of time (e.g. multiple months to years: Freeman et al., 2004; Hollander et al., 2001). Three studies assessed hormone levels in a cross-sectional designs (Antonijevic et al., 2003; de Zambotti et al., 2015; Kische et al., 2016). Sex hormone levels were measured in urine (n=3) or blood (n=8), two studies conducted interventions without hormone measurements. 3.4. Measurement of depression and sleep Two studies assessed depressive symptoms with MDD diagnoses (Antonijevic et al., 2003; Freeman et al., 2004), while nine studies used validated questionnaires for depressive symptoms (Baker et al., 2012; Bartz et al., 2010; Ben Dor et al., 2013; de Zambotti et al., 2015; Freeman et al., 2004; Gingnell et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2000; Shechter et al., 2012; Toffol et al., 2019) and six used non-validated question sets or questionnaires for depression (Ben Dor et al., 2013; Gingnell et al., 2013; Kische et al., 2016; Kravitz et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2000; Li et al., 2015). A number of studies also combined both daily ratings of mood and clinical depression questionnaires (Baker et al., 2012; Ben Dor et al., 2013; Gingnell et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2000). Six studies assessed sleep with EEG/PSG (Antonijevic et al., 2003; Baker et al., 2012; de Zambotti et al., 2015; Kische et al., 2016; Shechter et al., 2012), one
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