A critical appraisal of vasomotor symptom assessment tools used in clinical trials evaluating hormone therapy compared to placebo

Advances in diagnosis and treatment of perimenopausal syndrome

With the development and progress of society, people's average life expectancy has increased, and relevant literature reports that the number of postmenopausal women in China continues to increase. With lifespans extended, the transition period and post-menopause period have become the longest essential period in every woman's life. The life quality of women troubled by perimenopausal syndrome has been significantly reduced, which also places a burden on families and society. It is well known that hormone replacement therapy plays a vital role in improving women's menopause-related symptoms and is the most effective medical measure. With research ongoing into the treatment of menopausal symptoms in different patients, dose size, treatment duration, and medication regimens for hormones are still hot topics of discussion. This article reviews the definition, clinical diagnosis, staging, clinical manifestations, and treatment of menopause and explores the current diagnosis and treatment scenarios of perimenopausal syndrome.

Estimation of placebo effect in randomized placebo-controlled trials for moderate or severe vasomotor symptoms: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The Food and Drug Administration guidance recommended that for the indication of vasomotor symptoms (VMS), studies should enroll participants with minimum of seven to eight moderate to severe VMS per day at baseline, and coprimary endpoints should be the mean change in frequency/severity at weeks 4 and 12. This study aimed to estimate placebo effects in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) fulfilling this guidance.

METHODS

PubMed was searched using the following terms: "vasomotor symptom or hot flash or hot flashes or hot flash or hot flashes [title/abstract]," "menopause or climacteric," "RCT or randomized controlled or randomized controlled," "placebo [title/abstract]," and "frequency or severity." Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) placebo controlled RCTs, (2) enrolling women with moderate or severe VMS with a minimal frequency more than seven to eight times per day or 50 times per week, and (3) efficacy measurements including mean change in VMS frequency from baseline at week 12. A random-effects model was used in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS

Seventeen studies were included for the estimation of VMS frequency reduction and 13 studies for severity. Estimated change of VMS frequency in placebo arms was -5.44 times per day (95% CI, -5.81 to -5.07 times per day) at week 12. For VMS severity, the estimated change at week 12 was -0.36 (95% CI, -0.46 to -0.27).

CONCLUSION

Substantial and consistent placebo effects were observed in RCTs for VMS treatment. These data suggest a reduction of 5.44 times per day in frequency and 0.36 in severity might be observed as a placebo effect.

Menopause review: Emerging treatments for menopausal symptoms

Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) affect 2 out of 3 women during menopause and are highly disruptive and intolerable. They exert a negative impact on a woman's physical and mental well-being and are considered a high clinical priority requiring effective treatment. Although hormone therapy remains the gold-standard treatment for hot flushes, it is associated with several side effects and contraindications. Furthermore, alternative treatments for VMS are currently less efficacious and have limited availability; therefore, a new medication to treat VMS would benefit millions of women worldwide. Neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R) antagonists have recently been developed as novel therapeutic agents for the amelioration of VMS through their action on NK3 receptors within the hypothalamus and consequent regulation of the thermoregulatory centre. So far, three NK3R antagonists have been studied in menopausal women, which have demonstrated significant reductions in VMS frequency and severity and have shown their ability to transform patients' quality of life.

Does a multidisciplinary menopausal symptoms after cancer clinic reduce symptoms?

PURPOSE

This study aimed to measure the prevalence of menopausal symptoms in patients attending a multidisciplinary model of care clinic at their initial clinic visit and their subsequent follow-up consultation using a validated patient-reported outcome measure to assess whether menopausal symptoms after cancer had improved.

METHODS

A retrospective review was conducted of patients attending the clinic in a 12-month period in 2017 (n = 189). Recorded variables included patient demographics, details of index cancer, previous treatments, and menopausal symptom management strategies. Severity of menopausal symptoms was evaluated using the Greene Climacteric Scale. The extent to which patients were bothered by symptoms was combined into two categories and dichotomized (present/absent). Differences in symptom prevalence between the initial consultation and first follow-up visit were examined using McNemar's test.

RESULTS

The majority of patients attending the clinic had a history of breast cancer (72%). Fifty-five percent of patients were prescribed a non-hormonal therapy at their initial visit, most commonly gabapentin. Significantly fewer patients reported being bothered by hot flushes, fatigue, sleep difficulties, and loss of interest in sex, anxiety, or troubles concentrating at the first follow-up visit compared to their initial consultation (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

In this study, there was an improvement in self-reported menopausal symptoms in a significant proportion of cancer survivors attending a multidisciplinary menopause clinic between their initial and first subsequent follow-up consultations.