Hormone therapy for menopausal vasomotor symptoms

Paroxetine can block the metabolism of tamoxifen to its highly potent metabolite, endoxifen. Consequently, paroxetine may reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen treatment for breast cancer and should be used with caution in postmenopausal women with breast cancer being treated with tamoxifen.

Related article: Paroxetine mesylate 7.5 mg found to be a safe alternative to hormone therapy for menopausal women with hot flashes. (News for your Practice; June 2014)

Escitalopram
Gynecologists are familiar with the use of venlafaxine, desvenlafaxine, clonidine, citalopram, sertraline, and fluoxetine for the treatment of postmenopausal hot flashes. Recently, escitalopram (Lexapro) at doses of 10 to 20 mg daily has been shown to be more effective than placebo in the treatment of hot flashes and sleep disturbances in postmenopausal women.^23,24 In one trial of escitalopram 10 to 20 mg daily versus placebo in 205 postmenopausal women averaging 9.8 hot flashes daily at baseline, escitalopram and placebo reduced mean daily hot flashes by 4.6 and 3.2, respectively (P<.001), after 8 weeks of treatment.

In a meta-analysis of SSRIs for the treatment of hot flashes, data from a mixed-treatment comparison analysis indicated that the rank order from most to least effective therapy for hot flashes was: escitalopram > paroxetine > sertraline > citalopram > fluoxetine.²⁵ Venlafaxine and desvenlafaxine, two serotonin and  norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors that are effective in the treatment of hot flashes, were not included in the mixed-treatment comparison.

Use of alternatives to MPA could mean fewer health risks for women on a wide scale
Substantial data indicate that MPA is not an optimal progestin to combine with estrogen for hormone therapy. Currently, many health insurance plans and Medicare use pharmacy management formularies that prioritize dispensing MPA for postmenopausal hormone therapy. Dispensing an alternative to MPA, such as micronized progesterone, often requires the patient to make a significant copayment.

Hopefully, health insurance companies, Medicare, and their affiliated pharmacy management administrators will soon stop their current policy of using financial incentives to favor dispensing MPA when hormone therapy is prescribed because alternatives to MPA appear to be associated with fewer health risks for postmenopausal women.

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