Is placebo as effective as estrogen regimens on vasomotor symptoms in women with surgical menopause?

To evaluate the short-term effects of two hormone therapy (HT) regimens and placebo on the Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS) of women with surgical menopause following six months of treatment.

This 6-month, prospective, randomized, parallel-group, masked evaluator study compared the efficacy of once daily administration of 0.625 mg conjugated equine estrogen (group I), 3.9 mg transdermal 17beta-estradiol patch applied every week (group II) and placebo (group III). Mean GCS before and after six months of treatment in each group was compared.

In groups I and II, vasomotor symptoms (p < 0.005, p < 0.05), somatic symptoms (p < 0.05, p < 0.05) and total score (p < 0.005, p < 0.01) significantly reduced from baseline values respectively, while the other subscores revealed no statistically important differences following six months of HT. In group III, vasomotor (p < 0.05), subscore and total score (p < 0.05) decreased significantly while other subscore reductions were not significant.

Estrogen regimens and placebo seem to be effective in alleviating vasomotor symptoms. Additional larger prospective randomized studies need to be conducted in an aim to look at not only short-term but also long-term effects on climacteric symptoms, in comparison to both placebo arms and different dose and mode of HT use.