Lifecourse stressors and trajectories of neurocognitive health across the menopausal transition
Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) affect up to 85% of menopausal women and are strongly linked with increased frequency and duration of nighttime awakenings (i.e., sleep fragmentation), during which women are exposed to artificial light at night that can further disrupt sleep and promote adverse health effects. Determining modifiable factors that can reduce sleep fragmentation in women with VMS, such as nighttime light exposure, will have significant public health impact because VMS-related sleep fragmentation is common and is associated with negative health outcomes that increase susceptibility to dementia in aging women. As part of the Brigham/Harvard SCORE Center for Stress and Neural Regulation of Reproductive Aging Health Outcomes, called the Reproductive Outcomes of Stress and Aging (ROSA) Center, this study will advance the health of midlife women by determining the causal impacts of VMS-precipitated exposure to artificial light at night on sleep and neuropsychological health, including cognition.
Physiologic and Social Stressors and Health during the Menopausal Transition
This project will be embedded in the longstanding cohort study, Project Viva, led by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Project Viva is a cohort of over 2,000 mother-child pairs who were enrolled when the mother was pregnant between 1999-2002 and who continue to be engaged in follow up data collection. Focusing on the moms, the investigators in this study will examine physiological and social stressors in early life and around the time of pregnancy as predictors of body composition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and sleep duration and quality as these women now reach mid-life.
*ROSA Affiliated Authors shown in bold
“Associations of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus with menopausal symptoms at midlife in Project Viva” Menopause. Soria-Contreras DC, Perng W, Rifas-Shiman SL, Mínguez-Alarcón L, Hivert MF, Shifren J, Oken E, Chavarro JE.
“Longitudinal associations of psychosocial stressors with menopausal symptoms and well-being among women in midlife” Menopause. Faleschini S, Tiemeier H, Rifas-Shiman SL, Rich-Edwards J, Joffe H, Perng W, Shifren J, Chavarro JE, Hivert MF, Oken E.
“Perceived stress and markers of ovarian reserve among subfertile women” Reproductive Biomedicine Online. Mínguez-Alarcón L, Williams PL, Souter I, Ford JB, Hauser R, Chavarro JE; Earth Study Team.
“Anxiety and depression symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum among parous women with history of infertility” Fertility and Sterility. Capotosto MP, Corcoran E, Burgess AW, Rifas-Shiman SL, Chavarro JE, Oken E.
“Self-reported menstrual cycle length during reproductive years in relation to menopausal symptoms at midlife in Project Viva” Menopause. Mínguez-Alarcón L, Rifas-Shiman SL, Soria-Contreras DC, Hivert MF, Shifren J, Oken E, Chavarro JE.
“Preconception stress and pregnancy serum glucose levels among women attending a fertility center” Journal of the Endocrine Society. Mínguez-Alarcón L, Chagnon O, Tanaka A, Williams PL, James-Todd T, Ford JB, Souter I, Rexrode KM, Hauser R, Chavarro JE.
“Associations of adverse childhood and lifetime experiences with sleep quality and duration among women in midlife” Sleep Health. Oken E, Rifas-Shiman SL, Joffe H, Manson JE, Spagnolo PA, Bertisch SM, Klerman EB, Chavarro JE.
“Women’s preconception psychological stress and birth outcomes in a fertility clinic: the EARTH Study” Frontiers in Global Women’s Health. Mínguez-Alarcón L, Williams PL, Souter I, Ford JB, Hauser R, Chavarro JE.
“History of Infertility and Midlife Cardiovascular Health in Female Individuals” JAMA Network Open. Nichols AR, Rifas-Shiman SL, Switkowski KM, Zhang M, Young JG, Hivert MF, Chavarro JE, Oken E.
“Reproductive risk factors across the female lifecourse and later metabolic health” Cell Metabolism. Nichols AR, Chavarro JE, Oken E.
