Effects of Passion Flower on Hot Flash in Menopausal Women Supervised by Esfahan Health Centers, 2002

Menopause is a period of life in women accompanied by various changes and symptoms. The most widely recognized symptom as being related to menopause is hotflash that affects on the work ,social activities, sleep and quality of life. The common treatment of this symptom is HRT that has some adverse effects and sometimes contraindications. In this research the, effect of Passion Flower on menopause- caused hotflash was assessed.

This clinical trial was performed on 54 women aged 45-55 years , suffering from hotflash and reffered for treatment. The samples were randomly divided in to 2 groups: 1)taking Passion Flower 2)The control group taking placebo .The women were interviewed while questionnaires considering demographic and hotflash characteristics (using Kupperman Index) were filled out for each case.Hotflash was assessed 24 hours before and 15and 30 days after treatment.

The result showed that there was a significant difference in severity of hotflash 30days after treatment in passion flower group (P<0.04).There was no significant difference in severity of hotflash ,30days after treatment in placebo group. (P> 0/05). No significant difference was seen in severity of hotflash between the groups before the treatment, but it was not the same after theraphy (P=0.02). Disscussion: Passion Flower is an effective way to treat the hotflash among women suffering from it. Therefore, it can be considered an alternative therapy.. ***