Effects of hormone therapy with estrogen and/or progesterone on sleep pattern in postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of estrogen and progesterone on sleep in postmenopausal women. METHOD: The 33 participants were randomly assigned to an estrogen or placebo group after undergoing clinical and hormonal assessments and a polysomnogram, and they underwent the same tests again after 12 weeks. Then, while still taking estrogen or placebo, they all received progesterone for another 12 weeks and underwent a final polysomnogram. RESULTS: Estrogen plus progesterone was more effective than estrogen alone in decreasing the prevalence of periodic limb movement (PLM) (8.1% vs 2.8%), hot flashes (14.2% vs 0%), and bruxism (11.1% vs 0%) at night, or somnolence and attention difficulty during the day. The prevalences of breathing irregularities, arousal from sleep, anxiety, and memory impairment were decreased in both groups following progesterone treatment. CONCLUSION: While not significantly affecting sleep quality, hormone therapy decreased the prevalence of arousal in both groups and that of PLM in the group treated with estrogen plus progesterone.