Treatment
Review: sparse good quality evidence supports the use of alternative therapies for menopausal symptoms
Nedrow A, Miller J, Walker M, et al. Complementary and alternative therapies for the management of menopause-related symptoms: a systematic evidence review. Arch Intern Med 2006;166:1453–65.
Q Are complementary and alternative therapies effective for menopausal symptoms?
Key Words: complementary therapies • hot flashes • menopause
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Data sources:
Medline, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library (to March 2005), AMED, MANTIS, reference lists, experts, and websites.
Study selection and assessment:
randomised, placebo controlled trials and meta-analyses that evaluated alternative therapies (categorised by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women (including those with breast cancer). 70 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) met the selection criteria: 48 assessed biologically based therapies (including 31 of phytoestrogens), 9 assessed mind-body therapies, 1 assessed manipulative therapy, 2 assessed energy therapies, and 10 assessed whole medical systems. Methodological quality of most RCTs was fair or poor.
Outcomes:
improvement in menopausal symptoms (eg, hot flashes, sleep disturbance, vaginal dryness, urinary frequency or incontinence, depression, anxiety, and sexual dysfunction), quality of life, and cognitive function.
A few RCTs showed more improvement with treatment than with placebo for hot flashes, other menopausal symptoms, and cognitive functioning (table), but the evidence was inconsistent.
There is
Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri, Columbia
Missouri, USA
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
