A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, CROSSOVER STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF ORAL ESTRADIOL ON ACUTE MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS

Acute menopausal symptoms occur less frequently in Asian than in Cauca sian women. Oestrogen replacement therapy has been shown to be effecti ve in controlling acute symptoms in Caucasians, but the effect of oest rogens is not well documented in Asian women. A randomized, double-bli nd, placebo-controlled, crossover study of the effect of oral oestradi ol on the incidence of acute menopausal symptoms was conducted in 83 H ong Kong Chinese women who had experienced a surgical menopause. Altho ugh there was a significant increase in the oestradiol concentration w ith treatment compared with placebo (P < 0.001), there were no signifi cant differences in the reporting of symptoms between the treatment an d placebo groups. There is no obvious explanation for this apparent la ck of effect of oestrogen on acute menopausal symptoms in Chinese wome n. Whilst it may be related to the generally low incidence of symptoms or to a higher dietary intake of phytoestrogens in Chinese women, fur ther studies are necessary to explain these findings.