Study Finds Wrist Cooling Represents a Promising Approach for Managing Hot Flashes
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Research
Study Finds Wrist Cooling Represents a Promising Approach for Managing Hot Flashes
Hot flashes which are sudden, temporary intense sensations of body warmth, often accompanied by flushing and sweating during the day and night (night sweats) are referred to as vasomotor symptoms (VMS). These VMS are associated with sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, severe fatigue, increased pain severity and decreased quality of life. Hot flashes affect up to 80% of women going through the menopause transition, 80% of men with prostate cancer undergoing or after completion of androgen deprivation therapy and 50-80% of breast cancer patients receiving hormone deprivation therapy.
The consequences of VMS experienced by perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, aging men and breast and prostate cancer patients cannot be overstated. These overwhelming devastating symptoms not only have a significant impact on the quality-of-life, affect decision-making for life preserving hormone deprivation therapy for breast cancer and prostate cancer patients but also have significant economic and societal consequences.
A new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has shown that a wristband cooling device significantly reduced severe hot flash episodes among breast cancer, prostate cancer and postmenopausal women.
Michael Holick, PhD, MD“Most non-hormonal pharmaceutical options for managing hot flashes are limited by significant side effects.and hormone replacement therapy is not appropriate for breast and prostate cancer patients who were on, or who have been treated with, hormone deprivation therapy. This creates an urgent need for safe, effective, non-pharmaceutical interventions suitable for diverse patient populations experiencing debilitating VMS,” explains corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and molecular medicine at the school.
Twenty-seven participants (10 breast cancer, 12 prostate cancer, five postmenopausal women) experiencing at least two moderate-to-severe daily hot flashes were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind study to receive either the active wrist cooling device or an identical, non-cooling wrist band. After two weeks of baseline recordings, participants used their assigned device for two weeks, then crossed over to the alternative device for an additional two additional weeks. Their hot flash frequency and severity were recorded in personal diaries throughout the testing.
Impact of KÜLKUF Cooling Device on Hot Flash Reduction Across Severity Levels. This bar graph illustrates the efficacy of the KÜLKUF wrist cooling device in reducing hot flashes compared to baseline and placebo conditions. The data shows that the KÜLKUF device significantly reduced severe hot flashes by 46% (p<0.02) and total daily hot flashes by 18% relative to baseline measurements. The graph categorizes hot flash episodes by severity (mild, moderate, and severe) with color-coded bars representing baseline (red), placebo (yellow), and active cooling device (blue) conditions. Green arrows with percentages indicate the magnitude of reduction between baseline and the cooling device intervention.
The researchers observeda 46% reduction in severe hot flash episodes. Subset analysis revealed a 41% reduction in severe episodes in breast cancer patients and 50% reduction in severe episodes in prostate cancer patients and postmenopausal women. It also reduced the number of daily hot flashes by 18%.
According to the researchers, the wrist with its high neurological sensitivity has been identified as an effective site for targeted cooling therapy and for the development of devices to treat and/or improve such conditions as motion sickness, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and hand tremors. Holick believes that the wrist cooling device signals the body’s hypothalamus, through the cooling neuron signaling pathway, that the body is experiencing intense cooling. That shuts down the overheating signals for initiating and controlling vasodilation and sweating thereby mitigating the impending vasomotor response (hot flash).
These findings appear online in the journal Endocrinology and Diabetes.