Patterns of sleep disorders in women

Background Across the lifespan, several biological and hormonal differences affect symptoms and consequences of sleep and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders in women. Published data on women with restless leg syndrome are few. Objective To find out the pattern of sleep disorders in premenopausal or postmenopausal women. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study included 60 women with a history of sleep disturbance fulfilled by the Epworth sleepiness scale. Medical history, anthropometric measures, and full night-attended polysomnography were done. Results Regarding STOP-Bang questionnaire, there was a statistically significantly higher proportion of women with hypertension, BMI more than 35 kg/m2, and neck size more than 17.5 cm in the postmenopausal group compared with the premenopausal group (P<0.05). The presence of restless leg syndrome was reported in 87.9% of the postmenopausal compared with 81% in the premenopausal group. Regarding the presence and type of insomnia, there was no significant difference. More than 30% of women had initiation insomnia and the vast majority of them had difficulty in maintaining sleeping. The proportion of women with insufficient length of sleep was significantly higher among postmenopausal women. The premenopausal group had a statistically significant lower proportion of N1 (9.2%) and N2 (3%) compared with N1 (18.2%) and N2 (6.1%) in the postmenopausal group (P<0.001). The average sleep efficiency, daytime sleep latency, and apnea–hypopnea index were comparable between both groups. Conclusion Postmenopausal women had statistically significant higher STOB-Bang score and insufficient length of sleep, which may reflect a significant change in sleep architecture and patterns after menopause, which could be explained by the hormonal changes that occur after menopause.