Assessing the effect of Gabapentin on improving quality of life and sleep disruption in postmenopausal women

About 40% of postmenopausal women experience sleep disruption which can affect their quality of life. Various medications were used for managing the sleep disruption. There are some studies on the effectiveness of gabapentin in the management of post menopausal vasomotor symptoms and sleep disruption. The aim of present study was to assess the effect of gabapentin on improving quality of life and sleep of post menopausal women. In this double blind clinical trial, 90 post menopausal women with sleep disruption were selected and randomly divided into two groups for 12 weeks; intervention (300 mg gabapentin, twice daily) and control groups. SF36 questionnaire of quality of life and PSQI questionnaire of sleep quality were surveyed and compared before and after the intervention in patients. The mean age of participants were 52.7 ± 3.14 and 53.4±3.68 years in intervention and placebo groups respectively. There was no significant difference in demographic information and the mean score of SF36 and PSQI questionnaires between groups before the intervention (p>0.05). Significant improvement was seen in score of SF36 and PSQI in gabapentin group after the intervention and in comparison with placebo group (p=0.0001). According to the results of present study, it seems that gabapentin 300mg/twice daily for 12 weeks can improve quality of life and sleep of post menopausal women.