Continuous Transdermal Nitroglycerin No Aid for Hot Flashes

FRIDAY, June 9, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Uninterrupted transdermal nitroglycerin (NTG) therapy does not offer sustained benefit for hot flashes, according to a study published online June 5 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Alison J. Huang, M.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues randomly assigned 141 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women who experienced at least seven hot flashes per day to either uninterrupted daily use of transdermal NTG (participant-directed dose titration from 0.2 to 0.6 mg/hour) or identical placebo patches.

The researchers found that over five weeks, the estimated change in any hot flash frequency associated with NTG was −0.9 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], −2.1 to 0.3) episodes per day versus placebo, while change in moderate-to-severe hot flash frequency was −1.1 (95 percent CI, −2.2 to 0) episodes per day. Treatment with NTG did not significantly decrease the frequency of any hot flashes (−0.1 episodes per day; 95 percent CI, −1.2 to 0.4) or moderate-to-severe hot flashes (−0.5 episodes per day; 95 percent CI, −1.6 to 0.7) versus placebo at 12 weeks. Two-thirds of NTG users (67.1 percent) and 5.6 percent of placebo participants reported headache, which decreased to one participant in each group at 12 weeks.

"The findings of this trial do not support daily uninterrupted use of transdermal NTG as a nonhormonal treatment for menopause-associated vasomotor symptoms," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text