Evaluation of contextual and demographic factors on licorice effects on reducing hot flashes in postmenopause women.

Menopause is an important stage in the life of every woman. Hot flashes are the most common climacteric symptom and a major cause of suffering in postmenopausal women. Licorice is one of the plants that is used to relieve menopausal symptoms. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of licorice on hot flash symptoms in menopausal women. The participants of this randomized, double blind, clinical trial study were 60 menopausal women randomly allocated to licorice or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) groups. The participants in this trial received licorice (1140 mg/day) or HRT (a conjugated estrogen 0.312 mg/day and Medroxyprogesterone 2.5 mg/day) for 90 days. In this study we observed that licorice is not very different from hormones in terms of reducing the number and duration of hot flashes, but that HRT can reduce the severity of hot flashes significantly better than licorice can. In addition, there was no significant difference between age, education level, marital status, occupation, income, number of pregnancies, time from cessation of menstruation, and severity of hot flashes in the two groups. We observed that licorice seems more effective than HRT in improving hot flash duration, but that HRT can reduce the duration and severity of hot flashes more than licorice.