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.