Gabapentin reduces hot flashes

A 900-mg daily dose of gabapentin reduces hot flashes in women with natural menopause. So said Canadian investigators reporting on results of a new randomized clinical trial at the 17th annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Nashville, Tenn.

More than 200 women aged 45 to 66 who had undergone natural menopause were enrolled in the trial. All were experiencing 14 or more hot flashes per week and were randomized to 300 mg of oral gabapentin TID or placebo for 4 weeks.

Daily hot flash diaries kept by the women beginning a week before the trial showed a twofold improvement in symptoms among those on gabapentin compared with placebo (P=0.0007). Hot flash scores dropped by 52% (95% CI; 43–65) in the treatment group versus 27% (95% CI; 15–41) in the sham group.