PCOG paper
Night sweats, sleep disturbance, and depression associated with diminished libido in late menopausal transition and early postmenopause: baseline data from the Herbal Alternatives for Menopause Trial (HALT)

Presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, Oct. 4-8, 2006, Sun Valley, ID.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2007.03.008Get rights and content

Objective

The objective of the study was to evaluate the association of depression, sleep disturbance, and menopausal symptoms with diminished libido.

Study Design

Data from a 2001-2002 baseline survey of 341 peri- and postmenopausal women, aged 45-55 years, participating in a randomized trial, was analyzed. Eligibility included at least 2 hot flashes and/or night sweats per day and no hormone therapy for at least the prior 3 months. The survey evaluated sexual function, depression, sleep, and vasomotor symptoms. We examined the association between these factors, using multivariate regression models.

Results

Of 341 women, 64% had diminished libido, 18% had moderate to severe depression, and 43% had poor sleep quality. Women averaged 4.6 hot flashes and 1.9 night sweats per day. Depressive symptoms (P = .003), poor sleep (P = .02), and night sweats (P = .04) were significantly associated with diminished libido.

Conclusion

Factors associated with diminished libido in midlife are complex but include depression, disturbed sleep, and night sweats, all common symptoms of the menopausal transition and early menopause.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

Peri- and postmenopausal women, aged 45-55 years, were recruited in western Washington state for a randomized, placebo-controlled trial investigating alternative therapies for menopause. Details on study design and methodology have been described elsewhere.21 Baseline data were used in this cross-sectional analysis.

Briefly, subjects were Group Health (GH) female enrollees identified using automated data and non-GH women identified from purchased mailing lists, all were recruited through direct

Results

The baseline visit was attended by 509 women; 398 (78.2%) of these were eligible, and 351 (88.2%) consented to participate. Of the 351 women who entered the study, 341 completed questions on sexual desire; 328 (96.2%) had information on partner status in the preceding 4 weeks. Fifty women (15%) were unpartnered and 8 women (2%) had a female partner. Diminished libido, defined as diminished frequency of desire and diminished level of desire, was present in 64% of women. Analyses performed with

Comment

Diminished libido was observed in 64% of the women in our study. Observational studies of midlife women have generally found a lower prevalence of diminished libido than observed in our study, including SWAN,15 the Massachusetts Women’s Health Study,12 and the Melbourne Female Midlife Health Project.17 The difference in findings may be explained by dissimilarities in age, race, menopausal status, degree of vasomotor symptoms among the women, and recruitment strategies. Women in the HALT study

Discussion

Lorna Marshall, MD. This paper describes a cross-sectional study of perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women that examines libido and its association with depression, sleep disturbance, and vasomotor symptoms. It reports baseline information for a clinical trial studying Herbal Alternatives for Menopause (HALT) and does not evaluate any treatment modality. Participants were required to experience at least two hot flushes and/or night sweats per day in order to enter the study. All women

Acknowledgment

We thank Linda Palmer, RN, and Jill Seymour, RN, ARNP, for their dedicated work with study participants.

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    • Cited by (0)

    Cite this article as: Reed SD, Newton KM, LaCroix AZ, et al. Night sweats, sleep disturbance, and depression associated with diminished libido in late menopausal transition and early postmenopause: Baseline data from the herbal alternatives for menopause trial (HALT). Am J Obstet Gynecol 2007;196;593.e1-593.e7.

    Reprints not available from the authors.

    This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Grant R01AG17057, Alternative Therapies for Menopause: A Randomized Trial.

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