CHINESE HERBS--AN ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT FOR HOT FLASHES

描述(摘自申请者的摘要)：潮热(HFs)是 在美国，更年期女性的主要抱怨是 绝经后头两年的患病率为58%-93%。他们 可能会影响日常功能，特别是当它们扰乱睡眠时， 导致白天的疲劳。潮热可能会持续很多次 绝经后数年，对妇女造成相当大的问题 上百万的女人。雌激素治疗是最有效的治疗方法 在西医中有售。然而，雌激素，无论有没有黄体酮， 对于一些女性来说是禁忌，特别是那些有乳房或 生殖系统癌症。其他女人不能容忍这一侧面 与激素治疗(HT)相关的影响或是否关注 甲状旁腺素可能会增加患乳腺癌的风险。 由于几乎没有医疗选择，许多女性寻找其他方法来缓解她们的痛苦 通过更年期。他们试验了“替代”疗法。 尽管女性正在进行这种实验，而且有很多轶事 关于草药的信息，还没有系统地检查 治疗出血热的草药。 中草药用于治疗更年期已有数千年的历史 问题，包括出血热。已知的一些成分草药是 具有雌激素活性，但目前尚不清楚这是否可能是它们 作用机制。如果是这样的话，一个重要的问题是 这些外源性雌激素来源可能会给那些非常 女性服用草药是因为她们不能服用羟色胺。 这项拟议的研究的目的是检验两种方法的效果 中草药制剂对人肾综合征出血热发生频率和强度的影响 使用双盲、安慰剂对照交叉试验的绝经后妇女 研究设计。所有女性都将记录HFs。一部分女性会 是否在治疗前后对HFs进行生理学记录？ 研究的各个阶段。建议测定血清雌二醇， 雌酮、活动期和安慰剂期前后以及其他指标 雌激素活性，包括阴道成熟指数和血脂 级别。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): Hot flashes (HFs) are the predominant complaint of menopausal women in the United States, with a prevalence of 58-93% during the first two years postmenopause. They can impact on daily functioning, particularly when they disrupt sleep, leading to fatigue during the day. Hot flashes can continue for many years postmenopausally, posing a problem of considerable magnitude for millions of women. Estrogen therapy is the most effective treatment available in Western medicine. Yet estrogen, with or without progestin, is contraindicated for some women, particularly those with breast or reproductive system cancers. Other women cannot tolerate the side effects associated with hormone therapy (HT) or are concerned whether HT might increase the risk for breast cancer. Given few medical choices, many women look for other ways to ease their passage through menopause. They experiment with "alternative" remedies. Despite this ongoing experimentation by women, and much anecdotal information about herbs, there has been no systematic examination of herbal remedies for HFs. Chinese herbs have been used for thousands of years for menopausal problems, including HFs. Some of the component herbs are known to be estrogenic in activity, but it is not known whether this might be their mechanism of action. If it is, an important concern would be whether these exogenous sources of estrogen might pose problems for those very women who take herbs because they cannot take HT. The objective of the proposed research is to examine the effect of two Chinese herbal preparations on the frequency and intensity of HFs in postmenopausal women using a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study design. All women will record the HFs. A subset of women will have the HFs recorded physiologically before and after the treatment phases of the study. It is proposed to measure serum estradiol, estrone, before and after active and placebo phases, and other indices of estrogenicity including the vaginal maturation index, and serum lipid levels.