Journal
MENOPAUSE-THE JOURNAL OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MENOPAUSE SOCIETY
Volume 19, Issue 8, Pages 848-855Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/gme.0b013e3182476099
Keywords
Randomized trial; Escitalopram; Sleep; Hot flashes; Menopause
Categories
Funding
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Office of Research on Women's Health [U01 AG032656, U01AG032659, U01AG032669, U01AG032699, U01AG032700]
- Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
- National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, Clinical and Translational Sciences Award [UL1 RR025761]
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Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of escitalopram on insomnia symptoms and subjective sleep quality in healthy perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with hot flashes. Methods: A randomized, blinded, multicenter, placebo-controlled parallel-group 8-week trial with 205 women (95 African American, 102 white, 8 other) was conducted between July 2009 and June 2010. The participants received escitalopram (10-20 mg/d) or placebo. Insomnia symptoms (Insomnia Severity Index [ISI]) and subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]) at weeks 4 and 8 were the prespecified secondary outcomes. A total of 199 women (97%) provided ISI data, and 194 (95%) women provided PSQI data at follow-up. Results: At baseline, mean hot flash frequency was 9.78 per day (SD, 5.60), mean ISI was 11.4 (SD, 6.3), and mean PSQI was 8.0 (SD, 3.7). Treatment with escitalopram reduced ISI at week 8 (mean difference, -2.00; 95% CI, -3.43 to -0.57; P < 0.001 overall treatment effect), with mean differences of -4.73 (95% CI, -5.72 to -3.75) in the escitalopram group and -2.73 (95% CI, -3.78 to -1.69) in the placebo group. The reduction in PSQI was greater in the escitalopram than in the placebo group at week 8 (mean difference, -1.31; 95% CI, -2.14 to -0.49; P < 0.001 overall treatment effect). Clinical improvement in insomnia symptoms and subjective sleep quality (>= 50% decreases in ISI and PSQI from baseline) was observed more frequently in the escitalopram group than in the placebo group (ISI, 50.0% vs 35.4%, P = 0.04; PSQI, 29.6% vs 19.2%, P = 0.09). Conclusions: Among healthy perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with hot flashes, escitalopram at 10 to 20 mg/day compared with placebo reduced insomnia symptoms and improved subjective sleep quality at 8 weeks of follow-up.
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