Review on randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for postmenopausal symptoms in the search site, Pub Med. - focusing on hot flush

Pub Med 검색을 통한 폐경기 증상의 침구 임상시험에 대한 고찰 - 안면홍조를 중심으로

Purpose: Vasomotor symptoms including hot flash are very common to postmenopausal women. Estrogen therapy was regarded as the best option for relieving menopausal symptoms until 2002, when the Women#s Health Initiative(WHI) reported the side effect of the therapy. Consequently, studies on the complementary and alternative medical herbs and therapy for the management of menopausal symptoms have followed. And so we have reviewed some international clinical studies about the management of postmenopausal symptoms with acupuncture therapy. Methods: "Menopause and acupuncture" was designated as a key word in the search site. Pub Med, and nine papers dealing with hot flash among the relevant RCTs were selected, and then, the effect of acupuncture on hot flash and the way the researches had been done was examined. Results : The intensity of hot flash reduced significantly and the frequency of hot flash was inclined to reduce, but not significantly, compared to the controlled group. Conclusion: Each clinical test has its limitations in point of the number of the required samples. However, it still shows the possibility that acupuncture itself will be effective enough to reduce the intensity of hot flash to a certain degree. It is believed that extensive clinical tests on the effect of acupuncture on hot flash will need to be done hereafter. And when the tests are carried out, it is required to exclude placebo effect, do blind test, and carefully select and control the methods.