Menopausal sleep disturbances and pollen based herbal product: comparison among different treatments
Pasquale De Franciscis (IT), Nicola Colacurci (IT)
[De Franciscis] Università della Campania "Luigi vanvitelli", [Colacurci] Università della Campania "Luigi vanvitelli"
Context: The sleep disturbances increase around the menopause when, among vasomotor symptoms, are those badly impacting on quality of life. When HRT is contraindicated or refused, it is necessary to provide alternative treatments. Preliminary data show that herbal remedy from pollen extracts may alleviate menopausal complaints through a central effects by altering serotonergic mechanisms involved in regulating sleep. Objective: to compare an herbal remedy from pollen extracts with other dietary treatments for menopausal complaints, in particular on sleep disorders. Methods: a six-month prospective, observational study comparing herbal remedy from pollen extracts and isoflavones for menopausal women suffering from >3 hot flushes, Kupperman score >20 <30, sleep disorders score >5. Patients and interventions: 45 women receiving one tablet/day containing an herbal remedy from pollen extracts and 40 women receiving one tablet/day containing isoflavones 60 mg. Main Outcome Measures: Treatment efficacy was evaluated at baseline and every three months by: a) daily number and severity of hot-flushes; b) Kupperman score; c) Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) test for the evaluation of sleep disorders. Results: While vasomotor symptoms improved symmetrically in both groups, improvement of sleep global quality was more evident in the pollen treated group compared to isoflavones group with PSQI score decreasing from 8.58±1.89 to 4.0±1.91: particularly, baseline to the end of the study it was observed a better improvement of subjective sleep quality and sleep latency, and easier capability to fall asleep (respectively, 2.42±0.51 to 0.89±0.66, 1.74 to 0.89, 0.89 to 0.42). Conclusions: Treatments alternative to HRT can effectively be used in symptomatic menopausal women: herbal remedy from pollen extracts is mainly effective when quality of sleep is the most disturbing complaint