Using big data to explore how hot flushes and poor sleep contribute to women's health after menopause. MRC GW4 BioMed DTP PhD studentship 2025/26

Project Summary:

Vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats) and sleep problems are commonly reported by women going through the menopause. Their relationship is unclear but both are linked to adverse health outcomes like depression, cognitive decline and cardiovascular disease. This project aims to understand their relationship and whether they contribute independently to post-menopausal disease, and to explore treatments for vasomotor symptoms and sleep problems, which may in turn improve mental and physical health among women going through the menopause.

Project Description:

Background

Menopausal symptoms are common and often debilitating. Seventy to eighty percent of women going through the menopause transition experience adverse symptoms (1). Such symptoms include hot flushes, night sweats, disturbed sleep and mood changes. They can last many years, affecting women’s quality of life and ability to work, and have been linked will mental and physical ill-health. Menopausal symptoms are often interrelated, for example with women often reporting hot flushes and night sweats (vasomotor symptoms (VMS)) and sleep problems (2). However, the relationships between symptoms are unclear, e.g. whether VMS cause sleep problems, sleep problems causes VMS, or whether they are associated due to common aetiological risk factors. Further, menopausal symptoms have been identified as risk factors for adverse postmenopausal health, e.g. depression, cognitive decline and cardiovascular disease (3). Again, the causal role and interrelationships between menopausal symptoms in relation to subsequent ill health requires further investigation. It is also important to investigate underlying biological pathways that can be targeted (e.g. with new therapeutics) to relieve symptoms and in turn reduce risk of postmenopausal disease, and to consider risks and benefits of prolonged hormone replacement therapy vs. novel treatments for improving insomnia and vasomotor symptoms. These insights will benefit population health by providing a robust evidence base to advise women, health professionals, the academic community and the public.

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