Millions of women experience sleep apnea, yet it’s not fully understood why the condition becomes increasingly associated with high blood pressure and kidney disease after menopause.
To help answer that question, Noah Marcus, PhD, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences, has received a $553,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.
With the funding, Marcus will investigate the underlying mechanisms that connect sleep apnea to worsening cardiovascular and kidney health in postmenopausal women.
“If you look at the population health studies, they show a big increase in the prevalence of high blood pressure and kidney disease as women get to perimenopause and menopause age,” Marcus explains. “Before menopause, women generally experience fewer cardiovascular and kidney complications from sleep apnea than men, but that protection declines following menopause. Understanding why this occurs may identify new opportunities to prevent or treat these complications.”
Marcus and his research team have previously studied the effects of sleep apnea on cardiovascular and renal function. That work was published in recent years, and the new project builds on it by focusing on how those effects may change with the loss of ovarian hormones after menopause. This was a natural progression for Marcus and reflects a wider movement in health care research.
“Historically, many health studies haven’t focused on the female sex and how it impacts disease risk and disease processes,” Marcus says. “That’s changing.”
The project will also provide valuable hands-on research experiences for students at DMU.
“I enjoy working with students, and this research funding allows me to work with more of them than I otherwise would be able to,” Marcus says. “There are more things to be done, so it creates more opportunities, and that has a multiplier effect.”
He adds, “For me, feeling like I’m contributing something larger to the students and the university is rewarding, but it’s also distinguishing work for me. Having an NIH grant is no small thing. I’m definitely grateful and excited for the opportunity.”
For DMU, securing NIH funding is a significant achievement that reflects both the strength of Marcus’s research and the university’s growing research enterprise.
“NIH funding is among the most competitive and respected forms of research support,” says Pravin Mishra, PhD, MBA, chief research officer at DMU. “Receiving this grant speaks to the quality and significance of Noah’s work and highlights DMU’s commitment to advancing research that improves lives.”