Clinical trial NCT03003949: The Menopause Transition: Estrogen Variability, Stress Reactivity and Mood
Official title: The Menopause Transition: Estrogen Variability, HPA Axis and Affective Symptoms
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Phase: PHASE4
Conditions: Perimenopausal Disorder
Stress, Emotional
Keywords: perimenopause
menopause transition
estrogen
stress
mood
Lead sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
First posted: 2016-12-28
Enrollment: 82
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 45
Maximum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Women in the menopause transition ('perimenopause') are exposed to extreme hormone variability, tend to experience a unique set of severe stressors (e.g., divorce, death of loved ones), and are also at substantially elevated risk to suffer from mood and anxiety disorders. The purpose of this research is to understand the mechanisms by which variability in estradiol (E2) is associated with the symptoms of anxiety and anhedonia (loss of interest and pleasure - a common symptom of depression). By stabilizing E2 variability with a hormonal manipulation, this research will determine the degree to which the E2 variability (or E2 levels) plays a causal role in perimenopausal anxiety and anhedonia symptoms and whether it does so by affecting biological responses to stress.

Detailed description: Framed within a diathesis-stress model, the primary objective of this research is to determine the pathophysiological mechanisms of estradiol (E2) in the clinical anxiety and anhedonia seen in the menopause transition (MT). Specifically whether E2 variability or E2 levels predict exaggerated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity and impaired recovery to stress and, in turn, deficits in behavioral indices of threat responsivity and approach motivation and symptoms of anxiety and anhedonia. The secondary objective of the research is to use a hormonal manipulation as a mechanistic probe to stabilize E2 variability in premenopausal ranges and determine if: a) HPA axis reactivity/recovery represents a biomarker of behavioral and symptom responses to E2 stabilization; b) whether recent severe life stress predicts the HPA axis response to hormone stabilization.

A total of 170 women in the early or late MT who are eligible for the hormonal probe will be recruited to reflect the full continuum of anxiety and anhedonia symptoms based on self-report to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, respectively. However, the investigators will over-represent the clinically impairing end of the anxious and anhedonic phenotype (75% of the sample). Over an 8-week baseline, anxiety and anhedonia symptoms and serum E2 measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) will be assessed on a weekly basis. At baseline week 8, HPA axis (plasma cortisol and ACTH) response to the Trier Social Stress Test and behavioral measures of threat responsivity (via Dot-Probe task) and approach motivation (Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task 'EEfRT') will be determined. Using transdermal E2 as a pharmacological probe to stabilize variability of E2 in premenopausal ranges, women will then be randomized to transdermal E2 (0.10 mg) or placebo for 16 weeks. This is not a clinical efficacy trial. The investigators will use an randomized control trial (RCT) design with a hormonal manipulation in order to investigate the pathophysiologic role of E2 variability (or E2 levels) in HPA axis dysregulation and, in turn, threat responsivity and approach motivation. Serum E2 will be assessed weekly during weeks 9-16, and HPA axis reactivity to stress and behavioral responses to the Dot-Probe and EEfRT tasks will be assessed every four weeks during the 16 week probe.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Perimenopausal (either early perimenopause, defined as menstrual cycle length 7+ days longer or shorter than usual; or the late perimenopause, defined as ≥2 skipped cycles and an interval of amenorrhea ≥60 days but within one year of the last menstrual period)
* 45 to 60 years of age
* must be medically healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

* a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) including coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, heart attack, or stroke
* Type I or II diabetes
* personal history of thrombotic events
* personal or family history suggesting elevated risk for E2-related cancer
* currently experiencing migraine headaches with aura

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change Over Time in the Anxiety Score From State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
timeFrame: Baseline (Week 8), Weeks 16, 20 and 24
measure: Change Over Time in Anhedonia Score From Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale
timeFrame: Baseline (Week 8), Weeks 16, 20 and 24
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change Over Time in AUC Cortisol Stress Response
timeFrame: Baseline (Week 8), Weeks 16, 20 and 24
measure: Change Over Time in Threat Bias Score From Dot Probe Task
timeFrame: up to 24 weeks
measure: Change Over Time in Percent of "Hard Task" Choice in EEfRT
timeFrame: up to 24 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chapel Hill
country: United States
facility: UNC SHARRP Lab
state: North Carolina
city: Chapel Hill
country: United States
facility: Susan Girdler, PhD, Principal Investigator
state: North Carolina
Study officials:
affiliation: Research Professor
name: Susan Girdler, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Lozza-Fiacco S, Gordon JL, Andersen EH, Kozik RG, Neely O, Schiller C, Munoz M, Rubinow DR, Girdler SS. Baseline anxiety-sensitivity to estradiol fluctuations predicts anxiety symptom response to transdermal estradiol treatment in perimenopausal women - A randomized clinical trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022 Sep;143:105851. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105851. Epub 2022 Jul 2.