Double Blind Study on the Effect of Œstrogen on Sleep, Anxiety and Depression in Perimenopausal Women: Preliminary Results

Abstract

16 women aged 45-55 with at least 3 months amenorrhea and symptoms of hot flushes anxiety depression and insomnia were studied for 14 weeks. Patients were paired 1 serving as a control for the effects of time placebo and attention from researchers. Both patients got a placebo for the first 6 weeks and 1 received piperazine estrone sulphate (Harmogen) in a dose of 3 mg/day for the remaining 8 weeks while the other remained on the placebo. The results failed to show that estrogen is better than a placebo in relieving depression anxiety and hot flushes in premenopausal women possibly because of the small group or the placebo effect on menopausal symptoms. Estrogen did produce a significant increase in sleep duration and a decrease in intervening wakefulness in the first 6 hours of sleep that borders on statistical significance. It is possible that insomnia in menopausal women is due to falling estrogen levels producing a fall in free plasma tryptophan which then influences cerebral serotonin metabolism. The increase in sleep duration with therapy may be due to exogenous estrogen causing an increase in free plasma tryptophan.