A planned comparison of menopausal symptoms during the first year in 1,000 patients receiving either exemestane or tamoxifen in a double-blind adjuvant hormonal study

516 Background: We assessed 10 menopausal symptoms at baseline and every 3 months during the first year of an ongoing randomized Phase III trial comparing relapse-free survival of postmenopausal women with receptor positive, early breast cancer treated with exemestane (an aromatase inactivator) or tamoxifen for 5 years. Methods: Symptoms were assessed by each patient as none, mild, moderate, or severe with more detail used to establish a “hot flash score”. The median age of 997 evaluable pts was 65 years (range, 40–90). The symptoms were examined statistically by analysis of variance with repeated measurement design. Results: Vaginal dryness (p=0.0021) and bone/muscle aches (p