Effect of aerobic training on hot flushes and quality of life—a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background and objective. To estimate whether aerobic training has an effect on frequency of hot flushes or quality of life.

Design. A randomized controlled trial.

Participants and setting. Symptomatic, sedentary women (n = 176), 43–63 years, no current use of hormone therapy.

Intervention. Unsupervised aerobic training for 50 minutes four times per week during 6 months.

Outcomes. Hot flushes as measured with Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL, SF-36), daily reported hot flushes on phone-based diary, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and body composition.

Results. Intervention group had larger decrease in the frequency of night-time hot flushes based on phone diary (P for month × group = 0.012), but not on WHQ scale. Intervention group had less depressed mood (P = 0.01) than control women according to change in WHQ score. Changes in WHQ score in depressed mood (P = 0.03) and menstrual symptoms (P = 0.01) in the intervention group were significantly dependent on frequency of training sessions. HRQoL was improved among the intervention group women in physical functioning (P = 0.049) and physical role limitation (P = 0.017). CRF improved (P = 0.008), and lean muscle mass increased (P = 0.046) significantly in the intervention group as compared to controls.

Conclusions. Aerobic training may decrease the frequency of hot flushes and improve quality of life among slightly overweight women.

Key words::

• Aerobic training
• exercise
• hot flushes
• quality of life
• randomized controlled trial

Acknowledgements

Dr Med Katriina Kukkonen-Harjula from the UKK Institute of Health Promotion Research participated in the planning of the trial. Financial support for the trial was received from the Ministry of Education, the Academy of Finland, the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, the Juho Vainio Foundation and the Pirkanmaa Competitive Research Fund (Pirkanmaa hospital district).

Declaration of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest and have received no payment in preparation of this manuscript.

Trial registration: ISRCTN54690027, www.controlled-trials.com/