OBJECTIVE A childhood history of abuse or neglect may be associated with elevated adult cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. No studies have examined associations between child abuse/neglect and subclinical CVD using a validated measure of abuse and neglect. We hypothesized that midlife women with a history of childhood abuse or neglect would have increased subclinical CVD beyond standard CVD ris...

The etiology and mechanism of hot flashes remain incompletely understood. Future studies of hormonal and neurologic systems may provide promising leads to improve our understanding of the basic phenomenon and perhaps also shed light on the placebo effect. However, this is likely a complex undertaking. Critical to this effort is the ability to reliably identify when a hot flash has occurred. The...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate whether tapering down of combined estrogen plus progestogen therapy (EPT) reduced the recurrence of hot flashes and resumption of therapy compared with abrupt discontinuation. A secondary aim was to evaluate whether health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was affected after discontinuation of EPT and to investigate the possible factors predictin...

Clinical Problem Ms P, a 38-year-old woman, is receiving tamoxifen for breast cancer. She has clinically significant anxiety and depression. She also suffers from tamoxifenrelated hot flashes. Paroxetine is an effective treatment for anxiety,1 depression,2 and menopausal hot flashes,3 including those related to tamoxifen.4 What are the concerns regarding the use of paroxetine (or other antidepr...

OBJECTIVE To determine if estrogen ameliorates hot flashes by raising the core body temperature sweating threshold, by reducing core body temperature fluctuations, and/or by reducing sympathetic activation (as measured by plasma 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol). DESIGN Laboratory physiological study. SETTING University medical center. PATIENT(S) Twenty-four healthy postmenopausal women re...

INTRODUCTION Hot flash is considered to be an early and common symptom of menopause. The present study aimed to determine the impact of black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) on vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women. METHODS This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. This study was performed on 84 postmenopausal women. The participants were randomly divided into ...

OBJECTIVE This analysis was conducted to determine the efficacy of extracted or synthesized soybean isoflavones in the alleviation of hot flashes in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. METHODS PubMed and The Cochrane Controlled Clinical Trials Register Database were searched for relevant articles reporting double-blinded randomized controlled trials through December 14, 2010. References ...

BACKGROUND In many mammals, the duration of the nocturnal melatonin elevation regulates seasonal changes in reproductive hormones such as luteinizing hormone (LH). Melatonin's effects on human reproductive endocrinology are uncertain. It is thought that the same hypothalamic pulse generator may both trigger the pulsatile release of GnRH and LH and also cause hot flashes. Thus, if melatonin supp...