Open AccessGenitourinary syndrome of menopause assessment tools
Author(s) -
Eduard Mensión,
I. Alonso,
Marta Tortajada,
Isabel Matas,
Sílvia Gómez,
Laura Badenes Ribera,
Cristina Ros,
Sònia AnglèsAcedo,
Camil Castelo-Branco
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of mid-life health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.423
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 0976-7819
pISSN - 0976-7800
DOI - 10.4103/jmh.jmh_93_21
Subject(s) - menopause , gsm , genitourinary system , medicine , placebo , visual analogue scale , gynecology , intensive care medicine , physical therapy , computer science , alternative medicine , telecommunications , pathology
New therapeutic options are being considered to treat genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), such as vaginal laser, ospemifene, or prasterone, but there is no explicit agreement in the scientific community for its use. Some concerns have arisen on how to evaluate the improvement of GSM symptoms. In 2003, the FDA suggested possible end points for this purpose: change in severity of symptoms, change in vaginal pH, and change in vaginal maturation index (VMI). Contrarily, the most common assessment tools used to quantify severity and improvement of GSM nowadays are the visual analog scale of GSM symptoms, the vaginal health index, and the female sexual function index. In our opinion, subjective and objective variables to evaluate GSM can be differentiated, and not many of the considered objective outcomes are used in the recent literature assessing GSM. There is the possibility that some therapies present only subjective improvement, giving place to a possible placebo effect that is not being evaluated. To conclude, there is a demand to evaluate whether vaginal pH and VMI are enough to assess objectively GSM changes or new objective approaches should be audited.