A trial published in a menopause journal involving more than 200 women in the postmenopause phase was treated with various hormone therapy types over a six-month period. The number of people who awoke two or three times during the night to use the restroom declined from 28% at baseline to 16% after therapy.
The researchers said the improvement was explained primarily by better sleep quality in women treated with estrogen plus progesterone and tissue-selective estrogen complex. The percentage of women treated with estrogen alone who reported waking two or more times to go to the bathroom also fell from 25% at baseline to 21% at 6 months after therapy. This group had no significant change in sleep score, however. Instead, there was a significant drop in the percentage of women reporting an urgent need to urinate at night.
Lack of estrogen in postmenopausal women can cause nocturia, sleep disturbances like apnea and hot flushes, and changes in renal water and salt handling, among other things.
The results of this research are important because nocturia and the resulting discomfort affect women’s health and quality of life. This research backs up a theory that will be tested in a possible randomized trial: separate systemic and vaginal estrogens will be more successful at minimizing nocturia prevalence than hormone depletion.
Hormone therapy provides a potential world of benefits and it’s one of the services we provide at our family medicine Miami clinic. In addition to hormone therapy, we also do Botox, dermal fillers, weight management therapy, and a host of additional services. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.