MARiE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the Mental Health impact among Menopausal women: The MARiE study
IRAS ID
320397
Contact name
Peter Phiri
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
Menopause is a natural biological process when you stop having periods and are no longer able to get pregnant naturally. The menopause itself is defined as the day when you haven’t had a period for 12 months. It is said, the average age of menopause is 51 but it may happen sooner or later than this. Around one in 100 women experience menopause before they reach 40 years of age. Menopause may be one of many significant events that happen in a woman’s life hence, it may impact other aspects of life including social life and working life. Undoubtedly, the physiological changes have a psychological impact, but this varies significantly among women. While menopause isn’t a mental health condition, it can affect your mental health. Also, hormone changes during the menopause can sometimes make any existing mental health conditions worse. If you have a history of depression, you’re more likely to be depressed during menopause. If you have bipolar disorder, you may experience more depressive episodes. This is likely to be linked to a decrease in oestrogenBased on the current needs and evidence available, as well as the prioritisation of menopause in the UK’s women’s health strategy, we developed a purposeful project to explore the mental health impact among menopausal women called the MARIE project. As part of this study, we plan to explore multiple facets using a data-connectivity approach. To do this, our first step (work-package 1) would be to conduct an evidence synthesis to report the current clinical and research gaps followed by a prospective mixed-methods based study (work-package 2a). The mixed-methods study would provide sufficient information to develop a mental health assessment tool using patients’ experiences, preferences and clinical relevance. This tool will be validated using a clinical trial (work-package 2b) and its’ effectiveness compared to a generic menopause assessment (work-package 2c). To efficiently conduct this study, a platform protocol design has been used where gathered data could be linked leading to real-world adaption more easily.
REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/WM/0271
Date of REC Opinion
6 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion