Evidence of hot flash–induced awakenings in menopausal women

Abstract

Background Women are disproportionately afflicted with dementias, though the exact risk factors explaining why are yet to be determined. Additionally, perimenopausal women experience deficits in verbal memory during menopause compared to their pre‐ and postmenopausal state. Because sleep debt also leads to verbal memory deficits, we explored whether one of the hallmark symptoms of menopause, hot flushes, cause an increase of sleep disturbances. Methods N = 63 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women (mean age of 53.1 ± 1.1 years old) with hot flushes were recorded using actigraphy for sleep/wake activity and skin conductance for objective hot flushes over one night. The two time series were compared to each other using Granger causality to establish statistical causality. The number of objective hot flushes, determined by skin conductance, and amount of time spent awake were compared with linear regression. Results Of the 63 women, 76.2% were found to have skin conductance which granger‐caused more awake activity at night. Additionally, we have reinforced that a greater number of nightly objective hot flushes is associated with greater time spent awake (b = 28 minutes/hot flush, p < .001). Conclusion Those women who have hot flush granger‐caused awakenings may be at a higher risk of sleep disturbances during and following menopause. The relationship between hot flushes and lower sleep quality has previously been shown, but here we show that there may be a causal link of hot flushes causing night‐time awakenings. These hot flush granger‐caused awakenings may represent a female‐specific risk factor for cognitive impairment.