SLEEP DISRUPTION AND MOOD CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH MENOPAUSE

This study examined the sleep and mood differences between premenopaus al and perimenopausal women matched for age and sociodemographic varia bles. Wrist actigraphy, Profile of Mood State (POMS), State-Trait Anxi ety Inventory (STAI), a sleep questionnaire, and responses to a sleep diary were recorded for a period of 1 week. It was found that the slee p disruption of perimenopausal subjects was significantly greater than that of the premenopausal group (p<0.05). Overall, the perimenopausal group demonstrated a significant increase in sleep disruption and moo d alterations when compared with the premenopausal group. Actigraphic data showed that perimenopausal subjects experienced longer and more n umerous arousals resulting in significantly less sleep (p<0.05). In ad dition, perimenopausal subjects scored significantly higher (p<0.05) o n the STAI and significantly lower on the Vigor subscale of the POMS ( p<0.01) than premenopausal subjects. Correlational analyses indicated that sleep and mood changes were significantly related in the perimeno pausal group, bur not in the premenopausal group. Taken together, thes e results suggest that the mood changes experienced by the perimenopau sal group may be mediated by sleep disruption. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.