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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

An In Vivo Estrogen Deficiency Mouse Model for Screening Exogenous Estrogen Treatments of Cardiovascular Dysfunction After Menopause
Published on: August 13, 2019
Effects of hormone therapy with estrogen and/or progesterone on sleep pattern in postmenopausal women
Helena Hachul1, Lia R A Bittencourt, Monica L Andersen
1Department of Gynecology, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP/EPM), São Paulo, Brazil. helenahachul@psicobio.epm.br
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.
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