Menopause

The first drug combining estrogens with bazedoxifene has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

A new registry-based study sheds light on patient factors that may influence risk of breast cancer associated with use of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT)-including race, weight, and breast density. Findings from the report, published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest the greatest association between HRT use and breast cancer in women with low/normal body mass index (BMI) and extremely dense breasts.

The best first- and second-line therapies for vulvovaginal atrophy are highlighted in an updated position statement from The North American Menopause Society.

Estrogen therapy is still the mainstay of therapy for moderate-to-severe symptoms and long-term studies on endometrial safety of local estrogen and ospemifene are lacking. Those are the key conclusions from an updated position statement on management of symptomatic vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in postmenopausal women issued by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Vasomotor symptoms related to perimenopause and menopause in sedentary women are not alleviated by exercise, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial from the MsFLASH Research Network.

Women with a history of cancer are nearly twice as likely to experience severe menopausal symptoms, according to the results of a new study.

The use of conjugated equine estrogens in postmenopausal women aged 50 to 55 years was not associated with any long-term benefit or risk to cognitive function, according to findings of the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study of Younger Women.

FDA has approved low-dose paroxetine capsules (Brisdelle, Noven Pharmaceuticals), 7.5 mg/day, for treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS) associated with menopause, also referred to as hot flashes and night sweats.

In an unexpected move, the FDA approved Brisdelle (paroxetine), the first non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes associated with menopause, in spite of a recent panel’s recommendation against the drug.

After treating vaginal atrophy with local estrogens, sexual satisfaction for postmenopausal women and their male partners improves, according to the results of a survey published online in the journal Menopause.

The British Menopause Society (BMS) on May 23 released updated recommendations on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), claiming that they are finally providing clarity to this murky issue. The new guidelines appear in the society’s flagship journal, Menopause International. Developed by a panel of experts, the guidelines discuss how women can optimize their menopause transition, focusing in particular on lifestyle and diet and the pros and cons of complementary therapies.

Women with a history of preeclampsia or other hypertensive pregnancy diseases are more likely to experience vasomotor menopausal symptoms.

A new analysis from the SWAN study shows that anxiety before menopause does not correlate with anxiety during the menopausal transition. Researchers from the multisite Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, report in Menopause that women who are calmer at premenopause actually are more susceptible to high anxiety during and after menopause than before menopause, and vice versa.

Metabolic syndrome is more likely to develop in postmenopausal survivors of breast cancer than in postmenopausal women who never had the disease.

Fewer than 20% of obstetrics and gynecology residents receive formal training in menopause medicine. With an expected 50 million menopausal women in the US by 2020, how will we address the knowledge gap?

Women with early, surgically-induced menopause had greater incidence of neurological problems, including declining cognitive function and early indicators of Alzheimer’s disease in a study reported at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.

Hormones, particularly transdermal estradiol, may help women maintain mood, cognition and memory in middle-age and beyond. “What we have learned the past decade is that not all estrogens are the same,” said ACOG presenter Sarah Berga, MD, of Women’s Health at Wake Forrest School of Medicine, “and that the differences can be critical.”

A study appearing in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) April 2013 issue details a model to help predict when a women will experience her final menstrual period (FMP).

Oral estrogen therapy for menopausal women is associated with an increased risk of gallbladder surgery, according to the results of a large-scale study conducted in France.

Advisers to the FDA on Monday voted decisively against approving two non-hormonal medications to treat hot flashes, a common symptom of menopause.

In clinical trials, 12 weeks of desvenlafaxine effectively treated moderate to severe hot flashes in postmenopausal women, and the benefit remained after 1 year of maintenance treatment.

Osphena (ospemifene) has been approved by the FDA to treat dyspareunia. This is the first non-steroidal estrogen available for women with dyspareunia (painful intercourse), a symptom of vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA) that is common during menopause.

A registry-based study by researchers at UC San Francisco (UCSF) has shown an association between BRCA1/2 mutations and early menopause. The findings, published in Cancer, suggest that women who carry the genetic defect may be at risk of earlier infertility.

New drugs, new research, new guidelines… there’s a lot for ob/gyns to look forward to in the coming year. Here, the leaders of seven ob/gyn societies share the most interesting, important, exciting things on their radar for 2013.

From ASRM’s removal of the ‘experimental’ label from the procedure of oocyte cryopreservation, to discoveries into the complex genetic processes involved in ovarian cancer, 2012 was another important year in ob/gyn research. Here, the leaders of seven major ob/gyn societies reflect on the most exciting research of the last year.

Certain herbal and complementary medicines may be a valuable treatment option for women with postmenopausal symptoms, according to a new review outlining the advantages and limitations of the available treatments of postmenopausal symptoms.

The available evidence shows that the use of local estrogen treatment may improve the symptoms of urinary incontinence in postmenopausal women but that systemic estrogen worsens incontinence.

Applied relaxation techniques can effectively manage vasomotor symptoms of menopause, primarily hot flashes, in healthy women, according to the results of a new study conducted in Sweden.

In a new study, women who initiated hormone replacement therapy soon after beginning menopause and who continued treatment for 10 years had significantly reduced risk of myocardial infarction, heart failure, or death with no increased risk of cancer, venous thromboembolism, or stroke.

The claims that compounded bioidentical hormones are superior to conventional menopausal hormone therapy are unsupported by evidence, according to a new committee review of compounded bioidentical menopausal hormone therapy.