{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T04:19:26Z","timestamp":1772165966595,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]],"date-time":"2020-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1589846400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]],"date-time":"2020-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1589846400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005001","name":"Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["IR.AJUMS.REC.1396.720"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IR.AJUMS.REC.1396.720"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Women's Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Around 90% of postmenopausal women are suffering from vaginal atrophy. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of oxytocin vaginal gel on vaginal atrophy among postmenopausal women.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This was a randomized controlled trial that was conducted on 96 postmenopausal women who suffered from vaginal atrophy. The inclusion criteria were: literate women, age 40\u201360, at least 1 year passed from their last menstrual period or the level of FSH\u2009&gt;\u200940\u2009IU, monogamous women with the sexual relationship. Women in the intervention group, requested to use one applicator of 400\u2009IU oxytocin gel per night and women in the placebo group used placebo each night. The subjective symptoms of vaginal atrophy, vaginal PH, maturation index were measured before and after the intervention.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The number of superficial cells was increased significantly in the oxytocin group compared to placebo (38.7\u2009\u00b1\u20097.18 vs. 3.69\u2009\u00b1\u20092.76,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.0001), while the number of parabasal cells was decreased significantly in the oxytocin compared to placebo after the intervention. The improvement of the maturation index was more dominant in the oxytocin group (increased from 7.76\u2009\u00b1\u20094.68 to 52.48\u2009\u00b1\u20097.54) in comparison to the placebo group (increased from 8.58\u2009\u00b1\u20094.35 to 13.25\u2009\u00b1\u20095.06). The PH of the vagina decreased significantly in the oxytocin group in comparison to the placebo group (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.0001). After 8 weeks, 88.6 and 7.1% of women in the oxytocin and placebo groups did not show the severe symptoms of vaginal atrophy (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.001).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results of this study showed that eight- week intervention with oxytocin vaginal gel (400\u2009IU) could significantly improve the vaginal maturation index, subjective symptoms of vaginal atrophy and reduce the PH of the vagina. Using this medication in women who have a contraindication for hormone therapy is recommended.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.irct.ir\/\">IRCT20160602028220N2<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12905-020-00935-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]],"date-time":"2020-05-19T12:05:07Z","timestamp":1589889907000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["The effect of oxytocin vaginal gel on vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Ilnaz","family":"Zohrabi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Parvin","family":"Abedi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Somayeh","family":"Ansari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elham","family":"Maraghi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nader","family":"Shakiba Maram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gholamreza","family":"Houshmand","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"935_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"286","DOI":"10.1080\/13697137.2018.1446930","volume":"21","author":"S Palacios","year":"2018","unstructured":"Palacios S, Nappi RE, Bruyniks N, et al. 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This study was registered in the Iranian Registry for Clinical Trials (Ref No: IRCT20160602028220N2). All participants provided written informed consent before the data collection.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"N\/A","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"Parvin Abedi is an associate editor of BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and other than this; the authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"108"}}