title: Topical administration of isoflavones for treatment of vaginal symptoms in postmenopausal women: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
abstract: Current systematic review evaluated the efficacy of topical isoflavones to relieve vaginal symptoms in menopausal women. MEDLINE (1966 to January 2014), Scopus (1990 to January 2014), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library issue 1, 2013) were searched using keywords 'isoflavone and vagina'. Relevant studies were reviewed by two independent reviewers. Only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the systematic review. Out of 115 potentially relevant publications, four studies met the inclusion criteria. Topical isoflavones showed beneficial effects on dyspareunia, vaginal dryness and maturation value. Based on only one trial, the result of conjugated equine oestrogen cream (0.3 mg/day) was similar to use of isoflavone vaginal gel and superior to that of placebo gel. However, drawing any definite conclusion was difficult because of the limited number of RCTs, the small sample sizes, weak methodology and considerable heterogeneity of the included studies.
authors.affiliation: a Student Research Committee, Department of Midwifery , School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences , Mashhad , Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghazanfarpour
authors.affiliation: b Evidence-Based Care Research Centre, Department of Midwifery , School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences , Mashhad , Iran.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Latifnejad Roudsari
authors.affiliation: c Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT Centre , Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland , Bellinzona , Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Treglia
authors.affiliation: d Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences , Mashhad , Iran.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
mesh_terms: D001284:Atrophy / Q000188:drug therapy; D004414:Dyspareunia / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007529:Isoflavones / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017698:Postmenopause; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014621:Vagina / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D014623:Vaginal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D007529:Isoflavones
keywords: Isoflavone; menopause; systematic review; topical; vaginal symptoms