Psychoneuroendocrinology 29 (2004) 49–64 www.elsevier.com/locate/psyneuen Musculo-skeletal pain, psychological distress, and hormones during the menopausal transition Arnstein Finset a,* , Inger Øverlie a , Arne Holte b a Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, POB 1111 Blindern, Oslo 0317, Norway b Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, POB 1111 Blindern, Oslo 0317, Norway Received 6 March 2002; received in revised form 3 October 2002; accepted 4 October 2002 Abstract Objective: To investigate the relationship between sex hormones (estradiol, testosterone, androstendione, DHEA-S) and prolactin on one hand and musculo-skeletal pain and psycho- logical distress on the other during the menopausal transition. Method: Fifty-seven regularly menstruating women, who were studied over five consecutive years, who reached menopause before the fifth assessment, and did not use hormone replace- ment therapy were included in the study. Hormones were sampled and a questionnaire includ- ing questions on psychological distress and musculo-skeletal pain were administered at the five points of assessment. Data on last year before menopause (T1), first (T2) and second (T3) year after menopause are reported. Results: DHEA-S, but neither testosterone nor androstendione, was inversely related to distress and pain. Pain contributed to the variance of DHEA-S over the menopausal transition, whereas DHEA-S levels did not predict pain or distress when baseline levels were controlled for. Prolactin was at T1 and T2 positively associated with distress and at T2 positively associated with musculo- skeletal pain. Musculo-skeletal pain pre-menopause was significantly related to estradiol Conclusion: DHEA-S was negatively associated, and prolactin positively associated with musculo-skeletal pain and psychological distress. Whereas post-menopause DHEA-S levels were influenced by pain scores, no significant effect of pre-menopause hormones on post- menopause pain and distress was found.  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Menopause; DHEA-S; Prolactin; Musculo-skeletal pain; Psychological distress * Corresponding author. Tel.: +47-2-285-1435; fax: +47-2-285-1300. E-mail address: arnstein.finset@basalmed.uio.no (A. Finset). 0306-4530/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(02)00134-8