CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Experts at the University of Virginia Health System are looking at the connection between menopause and long COVID in women.

One expert with UVA Health says studies have found that women who were already perimenopausal, and then test positive for COVID, have amplified perimenopausal symptoms, sending them into full menopause. 

“So the ovary is more sensitive. Sensitive to stress, sensitive to having an illness like COVID, and sensitive to these ongoing hormonal changes and inflammatory changes. So we don’t think that COVID actually causes perimenopause. I think that COVID comes along in women who are perimenopausal and it exacerbates it,” said Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, a UVA Health expert on menopause.

A solution that has been found where estrogen helps with long COVID and perimenopause. People who are having symptoms of both are able to try hormone therapy.

Studies have shown estrogen helps with mood balancing, night sweats, and other symptoms of perimenopause, similar to long COVID symptoms.