Non-hormonal Treatments For Menopausal Symptoms and Sleep Disturbances: A Comparison Between Purified Pollen Extracts and Soy Isoflavones

Abstract

Background: Besides hot-flushes, sleep disturbances increase around menopause, impacting on the quality of life. When hormone replacement therapy is contraindicated, it is necessary to provide alternative treatments.

Objectives: This study aimed to observe the effects of an herbal remedy from pollen extracts and soy isoflavones for menopausal complaints, particularly on sleep disorders.

Methods: A six-month prospective observational study was performed in women in natural menopause suffering from menopausal symptoms and sleep disturbances. Three groups were compared: 57 women receiving two tablets/ day containing herbal remedy from pollen extracts (group A), 60 women receiving one tablet/day containing isoflavones 60 mg (group B), 47 women not receiving any treatment (group C). At 3 (T3) and 6 months (T6), the daily number of hot-flushes, Kupperman index for menopausal symptoms, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) test were assessed.

Results: Both groups A and B showed a significant improvement of hot flushes (p<0.001) and Kuppermann Index (p<0.001) from T0 to T3 and from T0 to T6. No significant differences between treatment groups were found at T3, while at T6 group A showed greater decrease of daily hot flashes and better improvement of Kupperman Index as compared to group B (respectively, -48.8% versus -18.4% and -24.4% versus -15.4%; p<0.001). Improvement of global sleep quality was more evident in the pollen treated group compared to isoflavones group at both three (-24.7% versus -9.3%, p<0.001) and six (-52.9% vs -4.0%; p<0.001) months, mainly for the scores related to subjective sleep quality, sleep latency and habitual sleep efficiency.

Conclusion: Non-hormonal treatments can effectively be used in symptomatic menopausal women: among these, after six months of treatment, pollen extracts might achieve a better improvement of hot flushes, sleep disturbances and menopause-related symptoms than soy isoflavones. Herbal remedy from pollen extracts is mainly effective when the quality of sleep is the most disturbing complaint.

Keywords: Menopausal symptoms; PSQI; hot flushes; isoflavones; pollen extracts; sleep disturbances.