STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Glob. Women’s Health
Sec. Aging in Women
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1514960
This article is part of the Research TopicExercise and Menopause: Benefits, Challenges and the Transition to Optimal ManagementView all articles
Getting Under the Skin of the Menopausal Hot Flush: A Protocol to Examine Skin Function and Structure in Symptomatic Postmenopausal Women
Provisionally accepted
- Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, North West England, United Kingdom
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Introduction. The major pathophysiological symptom of the menopause affecting daily life is hot flushes, which are also associated with elevated cardiovascular disease risk. A hot flush is a sudden and intense heat sensation causing skin flushing and profuse sweating. Menopause-induced oestrogen deficiency could increase the sensitivity of skin blood vessels and sweat glands in postmenopausal women, which could result in more frequent and larger increases in skin blood flow in postmenopausal women consistent with hot flushes. Furthermore, oestrogen withdrawal could also alter the structure of the skin blood vessels and/or sweat glands which may also contribute to hot flushes. This trial aims to examine the function and structure of skin blood vessels and sweat glands in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.Methods and analysis. This is a single-centre multi-cohort observational study. Participants will attend the laboratory at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) on two separate occasions, ~7 days apart. Visit 1 will consist of anthropometry, a blood sample and assessment of post-ganglionic skin blood vessel and sweat gland responsiveness via cutaneous microdialysis. At visit 2, participants will return for a skin punch biopsy. A between groups statistical analysis of the pre-and postmenopausal cohorts will be conducted in a blinded manner.
Keywords: Skin, Menopause, Hot flush, Blood flow, sweating Trial registration numbers. NCT06222073
Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Roberts, Doyle, Jones and Low. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: David Andrew Low, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, North West England, United Kingdom
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