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A Detailed Protocol for Perspiration Monitoring Using a Novel, Small, Wireless Device
Published on: November 24, 2016
Miniature hygrometric hot flush recorder as an objective indicator of hot flushes: a validation study
Moniek van der Zanden1, Petri van Gastel, Laszlo Bancsi
1From the Departments of 1Obstetrics and Gynecology and 2Internal Medicine, Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Objective:
Hot flushes are a very common symptom of menopause for which many women seek medical help. Accurate assessment of clinical severity and of the impact of treatment is limited by a lack of methods for objective hot flush recording. The aim of the current study is to test the diagnostic value of a miniature hygrometric hot flush recorder (HFR).
Methods:
The HFR was tested in 50 women with severe postmenopausal hot flushes. Results were compared with recordings in 27 asymptomatic postmenopausal women, 12 premenopausal women, and 12 age-matched healthy men. The number of HFR events was compared with the number of diary-reported hot flushes.
Results:
Healthy young women and men had a mean (SEM) of 17.3 (1.3) HFR events/day. Asymptomatic postmenopausal women had 13.6 (1.4) HFR events/day, whereas symptomatic postmenopausal women had 21.0 (1.0) HFR events/day (P < 0.001). The number of HFR events in symptomatic women was significantly higher than the number of diary-reported hot flushes (mean [SEM], 13.8 [0.6] hot flushes/d) (P < 0.001). HFR sensitivity to diary-reported hot flushes was 55.1%, with 61.4% specificity.
Conclusions:
The miniature hygrometric HFR has limited sensitivity and specificity. It detects sweating in general but does not differentiate between natural sweating and hot flush-related sweating. However, it may become useful as a tool for improving the data quality of diary-reported hot flushes.
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