THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
I0666 NORTH TORREY PINES ROAD
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA 920]7
619455-9100
FOR II{MEDIATE
#o62393-O2
RELEASE
For Information:
Sue Pondrorn
( 6].e) ss4- 8290 Scr ipps C1inic
Robin Goldsnith
(619) ss4-8134 The Scripps
Research Institute
THE ROLE OF FEI\{ALE HORMONES IN BREATHING DISORDERS
TO BE STT]DIED BY SCRIPPS RESEARCTIERS
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA June 23, 1993- Investigatorsat The ScrippsResearch
Institnte and ScrippsClinic and ResearchFoundationhave beenawardeda$.492,000threeyear grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of alcohol on breathing
disordersin older men and women during sleep. Of particular interestis the possible
prophylactic impact of female hormoneson upper respiratory disorders that could lead to
heart attack and stroke.
Previousresearchby the Scrippsteam has shown that moderateamountsof alcohol
consumedby young men within two hours of sleep severely disrupts their breathing and
increasesthe resistanceto flow in their upper airway. The new study, which is fundedby
the NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuseand Alcoholism, will focus on the influences
of age and genderon respirationduring sleepafter alcohol ingestionat bedtime.
Merrill Mitler, Ph.D., researchdirector for ScrippsClinic's SleepDisordersCentel
and a memberof The ScrippsResearchInstitute'sDepartmentof Neuropharmacology,noY
that the investigationof women is a major focus of the study.
women from sleepdisordered
"Female hormonesseemto protect premenopausal
women are not protectedas such."
breathing," he said. "But, postmenopausal
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Another memberof the researchteam, Arthur Dawson, M.D., a seniormemberof
the Scripps Clinic Medical Group, said "younger women are less susceptibleto sleep
disorderedbreathing than their male contemporaries. Women also show less depressionof
their waking respiratory drive when they drink a small dose of alcohol. We expect that these
gender differences will disappearwhen postmenopausalwomen are comparedwith older
mgn.
tt
He also notedthat "we believethat older womenon hormonereplacement
will show
lesseffect of alcoholon their upperairway resistanceand respiratorydrive during sleepthan
we find in menof any ageor in olderwomennot on hormones."
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