ReviewJournal of menopausal medicine2024
Evening Primrose Oil for Menopause Hot Flashes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of menopausal medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Effectiveness of Non-Soy Oral Herbal Supplements for Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) used to treat hot flashes has side effects, such as an increased risk of coronary heart disease and breast cancer. There are ongoing controversies regarding the risk of ovarian cancer associated with HRT. HRT is best avoided in conditions such as liver or gallbladder disease and gastrointestinal disorders. Evening primrose oil (EPO) has been used as an alternative treatment for hot flashes. We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and controlled clinical trials, following the PRISMA guidelines, to compare EPO with placebo or other interventions in alleviating hot flashes in menopausal women. We analyzed the data using Review Manager version 5.3, in conjunction with the Cochrane Collaboration tool. The severity of hot flashes was lower when EPO was administered for less than 6 months compared to placebo. However, there was no significant difference in the frequency and duration of hot flashes between EPO and placebo. Participants who received EPO complained of mild nausea and headache. EPO did not show any significant difference in the severity of hot flashes compared to black cohosh at 4 weeks; but the hot flashes were more severe at 8 weeks in the EPO group compared to black cohosh. The current evidence is insufficient to draw firm conclusions regarding the benefits of EPO in alleviating hot flashes. We hope that more research is conducted to provide sufficient evidence for menopausal women considering the use of EPO.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.