Using genetics to understand the role of hormones in postmenopausal health
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Clinical and Biomedical Sciences
Abstract
The health of older women poses significant challenges for future healthcare. Due to longer life-expectancy, women are living for longer after menopause and many will have multiple health conditions as they age, but historically women's health research has been underfunded. Rates of disease increase rapidly after menopause, which is marked by substantial hormonal changes and life-changing symptoms for many women. We have limited understanding of the impact of hormonal changes across life on health after menopause.
HEALTH-PM will use state-of-the-art genetic epidemiology to test causal relationships of hormones with postmenopausal diseases and conditions, including menopausal symptoms. I will increase the size of existing genetic studies of hormones up to 10-fold through novel analyses of primary care health records linked to genetic data in 230K people, addressing the complexity of such data. For the first time, widespread genome-wide analyses of postmenopausal disease will be performed, by combining health records data from hospitals, primary care and cancer registry with self-reported menopause status.
The objectives of HEALTH-PM are to:
1. Characterise the relative importance of amounts of hormones, duration of exposure or changes in levels for postmenopausal health.
2. Identify a beneficial sex hormone profile over life for good postmenopausal health.
3. Determine whether postmenopausal diseases in women are impacted by hormone changes around menopause over and above the consequences of ageing.
4. Quantify the effects on population health of intervening with hormone treatments.
I am uniquely positioned to deliver HEALTH-PM given my expertise in complex trait genetics and health data, becoming a leader of this emerging interdisciplinary field as further large-scale linked genetics and health data are released. Given the possibility for modifying hormone levels with existing therapies, HEALTH-PM offers the potential to substantially improve women's health.
HEALTH-PM will use state-of-the-art genetic epidemiology to test causal relationships of hormones with postmenopausal diseases and conditions, including menopausal symptoms. I will increase the size of existing genetic studies of hormones up to 10-fold through novel analyses of primary care health records linked to genetic data in 230K people, addressing the complexity of such data. For the first time, widespread genome-wide analyses of postmenopausal disease will be performed, by combining health records data from hospitals, primary care and cancer registry with self-reported menopause status.
The objectives of HEALTH-PM are to:
1. Characterise the relative importance of amounts of hormones, duration of exposure or changes in levels for postmenopausal health.
2. Identify a beneficial sex hormone profile over life for good postmenopausal health.
3. Determine whether postmenopausal diseases in women are impacted by hormone changes around menopause over and above the consequences of ageing.
4. Quantify the effects on population health of intervening with hormone treatments.
I am uniquely positioned to deliver HEALTH-PM given my expertise in complex trait genetics and health data, becoming a leader of this emerging interdisciplinary field as further large-scale linked genetics and health data are released. Given the possibility for modifying hormone levels with existing therapies, HEALTH-PM offers the potential to substantially improve women's health.
Organisations
| Description | INSPIRE taster day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I contributed to the Academy of Medical Science/Wellcome Trust INSPIRE initiative by providing a taster session (11 Dec 2024) to medical students to experience genomic and women's health research. This led to discussion of genomics and of research as a career. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk at the Festival of Genomics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Gave a talk at the Festival of Genomics to explain how we use health records and genetic data in our research into women's health. This led to questions and discussion following the talk about the biological insights that we have found and future directions for our research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://festivalofgenomics.com/london/en/node/speakerprofile-university-of-exeter-katherine-ruth |