Mechanical Device for the Relief of Hot Flashes

September 9, 2015 updated by: Dr. Robert Reid, Queen's University

Evaluation of a Novel Mechanical Device for Relief of Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms.

Hypothesis: A mechanical device when applied to the back of the neck at the onset of a menopausal hot flash will attenuate the severity and duration of symptoms providing women with a reassuring non-hormonal intervention to improve quality of life in the menopausal transition. This pilot study will evaluate the effectiveness of this unit.

The mechanism of action of the device will not be revealed in advance.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a pilot study to test logistics and gather information for planning the definite trial. We will randomly allocate 40 subjects to receive either the active Menopod device (n=20) or a sham device with the mechanism disabled (n=20).

We will recruit menopausal women with moderate to severe hot flashes (as defined by FDA standards this means a minimum of 7 per day).

The two primary outcome parameters are the hot flash score which is the product of frequency x intensity (Sloan 2001), and the average duration (in minutes) of hot flash episodes over the course of one day. These outcomes will be self-recorded by subjects in a diary designed by our research team on five separate days throughout the course of the study, once during the evaluation phase and once per week over the four week treatment phase. The two summary measures will be the changes from baseline to the last record collected for hot flash scores and average durations. Delta values (assessment phase minus fourth treatment period) will be compared between the two treatment groups (active versus sham device) using t tests (IBM SPSS Statistics version 21).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Phase

  • Phase 2

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

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 2N6
        • Kingston General Hospital

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 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age range: 40 to 65 years
  • Healthy postmenopausal woman
  • natural or surgical menopause
  • FSH > 30 IU/L
  • Amenorrhea > 6 months prior to study
  • Minimum of 7 moderate hot flashes per day documented in diary during evaluation phase

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any therapy for hot flashes prior to or during study
  • Obesity: BMI > 35
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Unable to use device as per protocol
  • Unable to complete required documentation
  • Serious medical condition:
  • coronary heart disease
  • stroke
  • chronic renal or hepatic disease
  • diabetes
  • depression or other psychiatric illness
  • cancer

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: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Menopod device
Menopod®
Device: Menopod
The mechanism of action of the device will not be revealed in advance.
Sham Comparator: Sham device
Inactive device.
Device: Inactive device
Other Names:
  • The mechanism of action of the active device is disabled.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Hot flash score and duration
Time Frame: Change from baseline to end of study (week 4).
Hot flash score is a product of frequency x intensity (Sloan 2001). Duration (minutes) will be recorded in diary.
Change from baseline to end of study (week 4).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of Life (QOL) and Anxiety
Time Frame: Change from baseline to end of study (week 4).

Subjects will complete the Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale once during the evaluation phase and once per week over the four week treatment phase (Carpenter 2001). This validated questionnaire assesses the impact of hot flashes on daily activities and overall QOL. They will also complete the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Zung 1971). This validated 20-item questionnaire measures anxiety with established normal, mild to moderate, marked to severe and extreme levels.

Carpenter JS. The Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale: a tool for assessing the impact of hot flashes on quality of life following breast cancer. J Pain Symptom Manage 2001 Dec;22(6):979-89.

Zung WW. A rating instrument for anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics 1971 Nov-Dec;12(6):371-9.
Change from baseline to end of study (week 4).

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Queen's University

Collaborators

Alexander Medical Inc.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Robert L. Reid, MD, Queen's University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

September 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 19, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

January 21, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 11, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2015

Last Verified

September 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • OBGY-208-10

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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