effects of phytoestrogens in alleviating the menopausal symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

the aim of this research was to perform a systematic review of the efficacy of non-hormonal herbal drugs in the treatment of vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women. three electronic databases were systematically searched from their inception to may2015: pubmed, cochrane library (cochrane central register of controlled trials) and scopus. in this meta-analysis, vaginal maturation value was considered as the primary outcome measurement. sample size, mean values before and after treatment and standard deviations for each outcome measurement were used for meta-analysis. pooled difference in means calculated as the main effect size. a random-effects model was used to pool the data across studies. heterogeneity was evaluated using cochrane q value. for quantification of the heterogeneity, the i2 index was used. the meta-analysis of 10 phytoestrogen studies showed that while the standardized mean difference of vaginal maturation value increased 0.164% (95% ci: -0.746 to -.0.419), this increase was not statistically significant (p = 0.582). the meta-analysis of seven soy studies showed that while the standardized mean difference of vaginal maturation value increased 0.072% in (95% ci: -0.42 to 0.5.), this increase was not statistically significant (p = 0.777). . overall it can be concluded that soy phytoestrogens and isoflavones can improve vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women, although this effect was not statistically significant.