Efficacy of Gynodian® Depot in Women With Impaired Well-being

The typical menopausal symptoms that are associated with a variety of physical and psychological changes (e.g. nervousness, anxiety, and depression) and also with impaired sexual interest and enjoyment are caused by a lack of estrogen, a female sex hormone produced inside the body. To treat these symptoms, women who are postmenopausal can receive a therapy called 'hormone replacement therapy' (the dosage of hormones to replace the body's deficient hormones), for instance, with estrogen preparations injected into a muscle.In women with a uterus estrogen use causes the lining of the womb (endometrium) to grow (thicken) as before the menopause. With long-term use this may lead to pathological changes of the endometrium. That is why this therapy should be complemented by the estrogens' natural counterbalance, progesterone (progestogen), at a certain interval. This causes the lining of the womb to shed, with monthly bleeding like a normal period, thus avoiding excessive endometrial growth.Estrogen treatment is well known to relieve psychological complaints. The combination of an estrogen with a weak androgen (in this case Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)) is presumed to clearly increase this effect. The present clinical study is to prove that Gynodian? Depot as a combination of estrogen and androgen has a better effect on psychological complaints and sexuality in postmenopausal women than has treatment with the estrogen Estradiol valerate alone.All patients will receive the same therapy, but differing in sequence. Either they receive Gynodian? Depot during the first five cycles and the estrogen-only preparation during cycles 6-10 (treatment group 1) or they receive the study medication in reverse order (treatment group 2). Patients will be assigned to one of the two groups at random. In either case they will be given an injection into the gluteal muscle every four weeks.Women with an intact uterus, in addition to the injections (the day of the injection being the 1st day of