Incidence of menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal breast cancer patients treated with aromatase inhibitors

// Dongsheng Hong 1, * , Ling Bi 2, * , Jun Zhou 1, * , Yinghui Tong 3 , Qingwei Zhao 1 , Jing Chen 4 and Xiaoyang Lu 1 1 Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, P.R. China 2 Department of Stomatology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, P.R. China 3 Department of Pharmacy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, 310022, P.R. China 4 Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, P.R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jing Chen, email: angelcq@zju.edu.cn Xiaoyang Lu, email: lxy00711@126.com Keywords: breast cancer, aromatase inhibitors, menopausal symptoms, hot flashes, meta-analysis Received: January 02, 2017 Accepted: April 02, 2017 Published: April 18, 2017 ABSTRACT Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are the standard of care for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the occurrence of menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients receiving the AI therapy. Patients treated with AIs had an increased risk of all-grade arthralgia (1.63 [95% CI: 1.34–1.98]) and insomnia (1.24 [95% CI: 1.14–1.34]). The overall incidence of hot flashes, fatigue, arthralgia, sweating, and insomnia in patients receiving AIs was 30.47% (95% CI: 25.51%–35.93%), 17.16% (95% CI: 14%–20.85%), 17.91% (95% CI: 11.29%–27.22%), 14.64% (95% CI: 11.46%–18.52%), and 16.52% (95% CI: 12.45%–21.6 %), respectively. Both arthralgia (RR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.16–0.75) and sweating (RR = 11.02, 95% CI: 4.11–29.57) differed between patients with early- and advanced-stage breast cancer. Our findings indicates that AIs are associated with a significant risk of developing arthralgia and insomnia in breast cancer patients. Effective early detection and management of menopausal symptoms would likely lead to safer use of AIs in breast cancer patients.