Hormone therapy improves sleep quality in recently menopausal women

A low-dose hormone therapy may be effective enough in treating women with sleep issues during peri-menopause and early menopause, finds a recent study.

The findings indicated that the women improved sleep quality over four years when using a low-dose hormone therapy - twice the improvement of those in the placebo group.

The study's corresponding author, Virginia Miller, from Mayo Clinic's Women's Health Research Center in Minnesota, United States said that poor sleep quality over time affects more than just mood.

Between 40 and 60 per cent of women in peri-menopause and early menopause face issues with sleep because of this physical change and the majority also reports hot flashes and night sweats, which can be disruptive to falling and staying asleep.

"Sleep deprivation can lead to cardiovascular diseases, among other health risks. There can be serious consequences -- mental and physical -- if you're not getting quality sleep over a long period of time," Miller added.

The goal of the study was two-fold to find out how two forms of the hormone therapy affect the sleep quality and assess the ties between hot flashes, sleep quality and hormone therapy.

The team looked at two forms of the hormone therapy - one oral estrogen (conjugated equine estrogen) and a patch (17 beta-estradiol) - to find out how their use affected sleep quality.

The participants were a part of the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study and all were recently menopausal women.

The women self-reported on the quality of their sleep using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

They also recorded the intensity of hot flashes and night sweats during this time.

They also found that sleep quality improved with changes in hot flashes and night sweats.

The study appeared in Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society.

-ANI