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. 2021 Jun 11;44(6):zsaa283.
doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa283.

Sleep during menopausal transition: a 10-year follow-up

Nea Kalleinen  1   2 , Jenni Aittokallio  1   3   4 , Laura Lampio  1   5 , Matti Kaisti  6 , Päivi Polo-Kantola  1   7 , Olli Polo  8 , Olli J Heinonen  9 , Tarja Saaresranta  1   10
Affiliations

Sleep during menopausal transition: a 10-year follow-up

Nea Kalleinen et al. Sleep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Study objectives: A 10-year observational follow-up study to evaluate the changes in sleep architecture during the menopausal transition.

Methods: Fifty-seven premenopausal women (mean age 46 years, SD 0.9) were studied at baseline and after a 10-year follow-up. At both time points, polysomnography (PSG) was performed, and the serum follicle-stimulating hormone (S-FSH) concentration was measured. Linear regression models were used to study the effects of aging and menopause (assessed as change in S-FSH) on sleep.

Results: After controlling for body mass index, vasomotor, and depressive symptoms, higher S-FSH level was associated with longer sleep latency (B 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.07 to 0.83). Aging of 10 years was associated with shorter sleep latency (B -46.8, 95% CI: -77.2 to -16.4), shorter latency to stage 2 sleep (B -50.6, 95% CI: -85.3 to -15.9), decreased stage 2 sleep (B -12.4, 95% CI: -21.4 to -3.4), and increased slow-wave sleep (B 12.8, 95% CI: 2.32 to 23.3) after controlling for confounding factors.

Conclusions: This study suggests that PSG measured sleep of middle-aged women does not worsen over a 10-year time span due to the menopausal transition. The observed changes seem to be rather age- than menopause-dependent.

Keywords: aging; follicle stimulating hormone (FSH); menopause; polysomnography (PSG); sleep architecture; sleep latency; slow-wave sleep (SWS).

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of the study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Scatter plot visualization of the relationship between the change in FSH (IU/L) and sleep latency (min). The regression line is given by ordinary least squares linear regression. The regression coefficients, their 95% CIs, and their p-values are given in Table 3.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Blox pot visualization of the percentage of SWS at baseline and 10-year follow-up, p < .001. Pink color, baseline cohort; blue color, follow-up cohort; diamond, outlier; small squares, means.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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