MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS AND METABOLIC SYNDROME: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Menopause-related symptoms, especially hot flashes and night sweats, are poorly understood and few effective therapeutics exist since the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) findings heightened awareness of the risks of using hormones/estrogen to treat them. Sleep disturbance has been linked to nocturnal hot flashes and to indices of physiological arousal (e.g., elevated cortisol, insulin resistance, heightened autonomic tone, and inflammatory processes) that could contribute to development of metabolic syndrome signs that emerge during the menopause transition and is associated with elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk after menopause. CVD is the leading cause of significant disability and death in older women. Interventions to reduce menopausal symptoms and improve sleep are needed but in order to design them, it is necessary to understand the relations among hot flashes, sleep disturbance, physiological reactivity, and the way psychosocial factors moderate these relations (e.g., hostility/anger). We are re-submitting a longitudinal study to describe relations among hot flashes, sleep disturbance, and indicators of metabolic syndrome, and how stress reactivity and psychosocial factors moderate these relations in late perimenopause and the first few years postmenopause when the incidence of hot flashes and sleep disturbance is highest (1 R01 NR009365-01). Reviewers from the Nursing Science Adult and Older Adult study section requested feasibility data of protocol completion. Thus, the purpose of this study is to document the feasibility of implementing our 17-day study protocol in 5 women for our resubmission.