Acupuncture for Hot Flushes in Menopause (ACUFLASH)

May 11, 2012 updated by: University Hospital of North Norway

Effectiveness of Acupuncture-care for Treatment of Hot Flushes Among Postmenopausal Women

In a pragmatic study investigate whether Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture-care decreases the frequency of hot flushes and increases health related quality of life among postmenopausal women. The intervention group will receive 10 sessions of acupuncture, the control group will engage in self care only. The study period lasts for 12 weeks.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study objective is to determine whether Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture-care together with self-care is more effective than self-care alone, to relieve climacteric complaints among women who seek alternatives to hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). Study design is a pragmatic randomised controlled trial with two parallel arms. Study participants are postmenopausal women who document a mean value of 7 flushes/24 hours and who are not using HRT or other prescribed medication that may influence climacteric complaints. The treatment group will receive 10 sessions of TCM acupuncture-care and self-care; the control group will engage in self-care only.

The duration of intervention period is 12 weeks with evaluations at baseline, 4, 8, 12 weeks, and follow up at 6 and 12 months after baseline. Primary endpoint is change in daily hot flush frequency in the two groups from baseline to 12 weeks; secondary endpoint is health related quality of life. N in each treatment group: 143 (286 altogether).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

286

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Norway
      • Tromsø, Norway, No-9038
        • Clinical Research Center, University Hospital of North Norway

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Postmenopausal women (at least one year past the last menstrual period) who are willing to receive acupuncture and who during two weeks of self-completed diaries10 document a mean value of 7 flushes/24 hours or more (or 50 flushes or more over a period of seven consecutive days), will be randomized after a baseline evaluation.
  • Current users prescribed medications that influence hot flush rate (e. g. HRT, SSRI's) can be included after a washout period. The washout-periods are eight weeks for SSRI's and systemic (including transdermal) HRT and four weeks for local estradiol preparations

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Surgical menopause
  • History of cancer within the past five years
  • Use of anticoagulant drugs
  • Heart valve disease
  • Poorly controlled hypertension
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Hyperthyroidism or diabetes mellitus
  • Organ transplant
  • Mental disease
  • Overt drug or alcohol dependency
  • Inability to complete study forms

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Lifestyle advice
Behavioral: Self Care
Lifestyle advice on diet, physical activity
Experimental: Lifestyle advice and acupuncture therapy
Procedure: Traditional chinese medicine type acupuncture
10 acupuncture sessions

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Frequency of hot flushes
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Health related quality of life (Women's Health Questionnaire)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University Hospital of North Norway

Collaborators

University of Tromso
The Research Council of Norway

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sameline Grimsgaard, MD, MPH, PhD, University Hospital of North Norway. No-9038 Tromsø, Norway

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 30, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 30, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

January 31, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 14, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 11, 2012

Last Verified

May 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • P REK NORD 102/2005

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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