Table 3.

Comparisons of outcomes between different pharmacologic treatments

Reference	Interventions	Hot flashes	Mood	Quality of life	Patient preference	Blood Pressure	Additional side effectsa	Time to hot flash improvement
Boekhout et al. [33]	Venlafaxine 75 mg or clonidine 0.1 mg daily	↔	Clonidine: ↑ anxiety Venlafaxine: ↑ depression	N/A	↔	↔	Venlafaxine: ↓ appetite	Favors venlafaxine (effect in 1-2 weeks) over clonidine (>4 weeks)
Bordeleau et al. [34]	Venlafaxine 75 mg or gabapentin 900 mg daily	↔	Venlafaxine (vs. gabapentin): ↓ negative mood	↔	Venlafaxine preferred	N/A	Venlafaxine: ↓ appetite, ↑nausea and constipation Gabapentin: ↑dizziness, ↑appetite	↔
Buijs et al. [35]	Venlafaxine 75 mg or clonidine 0.1 mg daily	↔	Venlafaxine: ↓ depression	↔	↔	Clonidine: ↓ 5 mmHg systolic ↓ 3 mmHg diastolic	Venlafaxine: ↓appetite, ↑nausea and constipation, ↑study withdrawal Clonidine: ↑pain, ↑itching	↔
Loibl et al. [36]	Venlafaxine 75 mg daily or clonidine 0.15 mg daily	Favors venlafaxine	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Venlafaxine: ↑nausea	Favors venlafaxine

↔ no difference among groups, ↑ increased, ↓, decreased, N/A not assessed

^aOnly outcomes that were statistically significantly different among hot flash treatment groups are presented