No More Sleepless Nights in Perimenopause

Summary

The goal of the clinical trial is to learn if Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-I) can treat insomnia in menopausal women. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Are HRT and CBT-I effective in reducing insomnia in menopausal women?
* Are HRT and CBT-I comparable in terms of reducing insomnia severity in this population?

Researchers will compare HRT and CBT-I to an active control group, receiving sleep hygiene instructions.

Participants will:

* Complete a screening and baseline assessment
* Receive Hormone Replacement Therapy (as prescribed), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (1/week), or sleep hygiene instructions (1/week) for 8 weeks.
* Keep a daily diary (sleep e-diary), to assess sleep-quality.
* Wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) during 6 nights (3 at baseline \& 3 post-intervention), to assess deep sleep cycles and waking episodes.
* Receive a phone call for intervention compliance
* Complete a post-intervention assessment.

Conditions

• Insomnia
• Menopause

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

CBT-I is conducted in an individual setting according to the manual used in McCurry (1). Factors at the level of behavior, cognitions, and physiology that perpetuate sleep onset and sleep maintenance disorders are addressed. In addition, psychoeducation on sleep and sleep hygiene, stimulus control, sleep restriction, relaxation, structured worry time, cognitive restructuring, and relapse prevention are part of the training. Each session will include homework.

DRUG

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

Standard-dose continuously-combined bio-identical HRT containing transdermal estradiol 1.5 mg/d (= 2 strokes of Oestrogel® Dispenser) and oral micronized progesterone (= 1 capsule of Utrogestan® 200). This combination is the most popular HRT regimen, as it has a neutral effect on lipids, glucose, haemostasis. Participants will receive a conventional prescription for the 2 products that are covered by all health insurances in Switzerland.

BEHAVIORAL

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene refers to healthy sleep habits, e.g. food and drink choices, a regular sleep schedule, evening routine. Although being widely used in daily practice, sleep hygiene shows no significant effect as monotherapy in patients with an established insomnia. The sleep hygiene condition in this study is matched to CBT-I in frequency and intensity of contact.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Petra Stute, Prof. · University Hospital of Bern, Department of Gynecological Endocrinology & Reproductive Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Max Age

69 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-01-01

Primary Completion

2026-07-01

Completion

2027-01-30

Countries

• Switzerland

Study Locations