Chinese herbal medicine for menopausal symptoms (Review)

Background: Menopause usually takes place when a woman is around 51 years of age. Women can experience symptoms such as hot flushes, sweats, poor sleep, joint pains, anxiousness, dry skin and vagina when the organs which produce female hormones slow down. Usually hormone therapy (HT) is prescribed to reduce the symptoms. Due to concerns on long term use of HT resulting in adverse effects, women have been looking for alternative treatments to relieve their symptoms. Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) is one of the popular choices. Although CHM has been used for a very long time clinically, its effectiveness and long-term safety remained unanswered from a scientific perspective. Study characteristics: This review examined 22 randomised clinical trials where 2902 women took part in the studies; 1499 in the CHM group and 1403 in the control group which might include a placebo (non-active compound made to look, taste and smell the same as the study compound) or a drug or HT or another CHM formula (different from the one being tested). Most of the studies had a trial period for 12 weeks. The data are current to March 2015. Key results: We found insufficient evidence that CHM were any more or less effective than placebo or HT for the relief of vasomotor symptoms. Adverse effects were not well reported, some women taking CHM reported mild diarrhoea, breast tenderness, gastric discomfort and an unpleasant taste. Effects on safety were inconclusive.