Prasterone has parallel beneficial effects on the main symptoms of vulvovaginal atrophy: 52-week open-label study

Abstract Objective An objective was to analyze the time course of efficacy of daily intravaginal administration of 0.5% (6.5 mg) DHEA (prasterone) for 52 weeks on the moderate to severe (MS) symptoms and signs of vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA). Method Five hundred twenty-one postmenopausal women were enrolled and received daily intravaginal administration of 0.5% DHEA in an open-label phase III study. The severity of the VVA symptoms examined in detail in the different groups. Results A parallel improvement of pain at sexual activity was observed in women who had moderate to severe (MS) dyspareunia as their most bothersome symptom (MBS) ( n  = 183) or not MBS ( n  = 240) and MS without being MBS ( n  = 57) with a 1.70 severity unit change in the MBS group for a decrease of 66.1% from baseline ( p p Conclusion The present study shows, in addition to the parallel benefits on the three symptoms of VVA, that the choice of any of the MS symptoms as being or not being MBS by women has no influence on the observed therapeutic effect ( NCT01256671 ).