Effects of oral estrogen and hypnotics on Japanese peri‐ and postmenopausal women with sleep disturbance

Abstract

To assess the effects of estrogen and hypnotics on Japanese peri- and postmenopausal women with sleep disturbance. Among the records of 1451 participants enrolled in the Systematic Health and Nutrition Education Program conducted at the Menopause Clinic of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital between 1995 and 2009, those of 202 peri- and postmenopausal women were retrospectively analyzed. These women, who had moderate to severe sleep disturbances, had either received only health and nutrition education (control; n = 119), or had received education with either conjugated estrogen (estrogen [0.625 mg/day]; n = 55) or nightly hypnotics (hypnotics; n = 28), and were followed up for a median interval of six months. Both oral estrogen and hypnotics improved the subjective sleep disturbance scores, while administration of hypnotics decreased the percentage of women reporting difficulty in initiating sleep or non-restorative sleep. Oral estrogen was also effective in alleviating various menopausal symptoms, while hypnotics were not. The health-related quality of life of these patients was significantly promoted by health and nutrition education alone, and neither estrogen nor hypnotics had an additive effect on it. Administration of hypnotics substantially lowered the blood pressure of the subjects (systolic pressure, -10.2%; diastolic pressure, -8.3%) and significantly reduced body weight (-2.1%), body mass index (-2.2%) and body fat (-7.8%), without affecting lean body mass. Oral estrogen and hypnotics are effective for sleep disturbance in Japanese peri- and postmenopausal women. They can be admininstered either singly or in combination, according to the patient's characteristics.