(Press-News.org) CLEVELAND, Ohio (October 24, 2012)—Hot flashes and night sweats can return after women stop using escitalopram—an antidepressant—to treat these menopause symptoms, according to a study published online this month in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society. This is typical of stopping hormone therapy as well.
Not every woman who took escitalopram in this National Institutes of Health-supported study had her symptoms come back, however. Symptoms returned for only about one third of the women. These women were more likely than others to have had insomnia, to have had less relief from this selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) than the others, and to be white.
The researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Indiana University in Indianapolis, and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia looked at the frequency, severity, and bother of vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) in 184 women before they started taking escitalopram, after 8 weeks of therapy, and again 3 weeks later. About a third of the women had relapses in terms of the number of night sweats and hot flashes, their severity, and how bothersome they were. Women who responded less well to the drug and who had insomnia were more likely to have a relapse in the number of night sweats and hot flashes, women who had insomnia and depressive symptoms were more likely to relapse in terms of the severity of their symptoms, and white women (unlike African Americans) were more likely to relapse in terms of how bothersome the symptoms were.
Although it will take more study to say for sure, these results imply that women may benefit from a longer period of treatment with the SSRI or from switching to insomnia treatments when they do discontinue the SSRI.
### The study will be published in the March 2013 print edition of Menopause.
Founded in 1989, The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) is North America's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the health and quality of life of all women during midlife and beyond through an understanding of menopause and healthy aging. Its multidisciplinary membership of 2,000 leaders in the field—including clinical and basic science experts from medicine, nursing, sociology, psychology, nutrition, anthropology, epidemiology, pharmacy, and education—makes NAMS uniquely qualified to serve as the definitive resource for health professionals and the public for accurate, unbiased information about menopause and healthy aging. To learn more about NAMS, visit our website: www.menopause.org
Hot flashes can come back after SSRI
2012-10-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Expert advisory: VCU study finds simple prevention strategy reducing MRSA infections
2012-10-24
RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 24, 2012) – High compliance with hand hygiene and focusing on other simple infection control measures on medical, surgical and neuroscience intensive care units resulted in reduced rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection by 95 percent in a nine-year study, according to research findings by Virginia Commonwealth University physicians presented during IDWeek 2012.
Most hospitals use vertical infection prevention strategies, which focus on culturing for patients harboring organisms such as MRSA and isolating those patients. ...
Risk factors in hospital readmissions among general surgery patients identified in study
2012-10-24
ATLANTA – Identifying risk factors in hospital readmissions could help improve patient care and hospital bottom lines, according to a study recently completed by Georgia State University's Experimental Economics Center and a team from the Emory University School of Medicine.
The study, supported by a $1.2 million, three-year award to Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and Emory School of Medicine from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging, identifies factors associated with hospital readmission within 30 days after surgery ...
Buffalo milk mozzarella or buffaloed consumers? New test can provide the answer
2012-10-24
Those tiny balls of boutique mozzarella cheese with the sticker-shock price tag beckoning from the dairy case — are they the real deal, mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, crafted from the milk of water buffaloes? Or are they really cheap fakes made from cow's milk? A new method described in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry promises to provide the answer for mozzarella and other dairy products.
Barbara van Asch and colleagues explain that premium dairy products, such as imported specialty cheeses labeled with a designation of origin, are most vulnerable to ...
Researchers create potatoes with higher levels of carotenoids
2012-10-24
This press release is available in Spanish.
Potatoes with higher levels of beneficial carotenoids are the result of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies to improve one of America's most popular vegetables.
Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) bred yellow potatoes with carotenoid levels that are two to three times higher than those of the popular Yukon Gold yellow-fleshed potato variety.
ARS plant geneticist Kathy Haynes and nutritionist Beverly Clevidence did the research at the agency's Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural ...
Can diabetes devices be damaged by airport security scanners?
2012-10-24
New Rochelle, NY, October 24, 2012—Full-body or X-ray scanners used for airport security screening may affect the function of insulin pump or continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices. People with diabetes can present a travel letter obtained from their physicians to avoid possible damage caused by exposure to imaging equipment in airports. The risk to these sensitive devices posed by scanners and the low-pressure conditions on airplanes are the focus of the Editorial "Navigating Airport Security with an Insulin Pump and/or Sensor," published in Diabetes Technology & ...
Speed limits on cargo ships could reduce their pollutants by more than half
2012-10-24
Putting a speed limit on cargo ships as they sail near ports and coastlines could cut their emission of air pollutants by up to 70 percent, reducing the impact of marine shipping on Earth's climate and human health, scientists have found. Their evaluation of the impact of vessel speed reduction policies, such as those proposed by the California Air Resources board, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.
David R. Cocker III and colleagues explain that marine shipping is the most efficient form of transporting goods, with more than 100,000 ships carrying ...
Moffitt researcher investigates 2-drug synergy to treat drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia
2012-10-24
An interdisciplinary team of researchers has dissected a case of synergy in drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia to understand the mechanism by which two drugs, danusertib and bosutinib, work together to overcome resistance in the BCR-ABL gatekeeper mutation-specific disease. The team includes a researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Austria and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The goal is to address an unmet medical need because this BCR-ABL mutation confers ...
Chewing betel quid exposes half a billion people to direct carcinogens
2012-10-24
Chewing betel quid — the fourth most popular psychoactive substance in the world after tobacco, alcohol and caffeine — exposes its 600 million users to substances that act as direct carcinogens in the mouth, scientists are reporting in a new study. It appears in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Mu-Rong Chao and Chiung-Wen Hu explain that betel quid (BQ) consists of nuts from the arcea tree, sometimes combined with spices, such as cardamom or saffron, and other ingredients. Available in commercial forms, BQ is popular among people in China, India and other ...
When negative political ads work
2012-10-24
Televised political advertising takes up a large portion of campaigns budgets. Much of it is spent on negative political ads. But do these negative ads work? A new study by Juliana Fernandes, assistant professor of strategic communication at the University of Miami (UM), shows that a negative political ad is most effective when it's shown in moderation. The findings reveal that massive exposure to a negative ad has a backlash effect on the evaluation of the sponsor candidate.
"People will be more likely to appreciate and vote for the candidate that is sponsoring the negative ...
Urgent need to expand use of shingles vaccine and treat shingles-related pain
2012-10-24
New Rochelle, NY, October 24, 2012–Shingles, a reactivation of the herpes zoster (chickenpox) virus affects nearly 1 in 3 Americans. About 1 million cases are diagnosed each year, with some patients suffering excruciating pain and itching due to post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), a complication of the viral infection that can last for years despite treatment. The latest information on shingles and PHN, including a new, improved vaccine to prevent shingles and alternative therapies to control symptoms, are discussed in a special focus section in Population Health Management, ...