Project description
The perimenopause is a transition time where women can experience menopausal symptoms in the years before their periods finally stop. The average age women start to notice these symptoms is mid forties, but they can start much earlier. Hormonal changes can cause many different physical and mental health symptoms, for example; stress, insomnia, anxiety, low mood, mood swings and depression.
Mood changes due to the perimenopause may benefit from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and other lifestyle changes. However, mental health symptoms are common in the general population, especially during mid-life. Given the range of symptoms women can experience in the perimenopause it can be difficult to work out if the changes in hormone levels are contributing to mental health symptoms, and therefore who may benefit from different treatments.
Very little research has been done to find out what women in this age range know about how these changing hormone levels can affect their mental health, and their own thoughts and concerns regarding their mental health.
What is the aim of the project?
To understand the awareness, thoughts, and experiences of the perimenopause in patients aged 45-55 presenting with mental health symptoms.
We hope to use this information to improve diagnosis and treatment of mental health symptoms related to perimenopause.
What will we do?
We will ask women, aged 45-55, who go to the GP with changes in mood to take part in a 40 minute online or phone interview to explore their understanding and experiences of the perimenopause and if their concerns are being addressed.
Researchers from the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Bristol are leading this study and it is locally funded through the University of Bristol.
