Oxybutynin Beats Placebo for Reducing ADT-Linked Hot Flashes in Prostate Cancer

TUESDAY, Feb. 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For men with prostate cancer experiencing androgen deprivation therapy-associated hot flashes, oxybutynin is superior to placebo in improving symptoms, according to a study published online Jan. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Bradley J. Stish, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues examined whether oxybutynin could improve hot flash symptoms in a study involving patients with prostate cancer receiving a stable regimen of androgen deprivation therapy with at least 28 hot flashes per week. Participants were randomly assigned to receive oxybutynin 2.5 mg twice daily, oxybutynin 5 mg twice daily, or matching placebo for six weeks; 81 participants were eligible for a final analysis, reporting an average of 10.1 hot flashes per day.

The researchers found that patients in the placebo arm, 2.5-mg oxybutynin arm, and 5-mg oxybutynin arm had reductions in hot flashes/day of 2.15, 4.77, and 6.89, respectively, on average. The daily hot flash scores were reduced by an average of 4.85, 9.94, and 13.95 points, respectively, for placebo, 2.5 mg oxybutynin, and 5 mg oxybutynin. There were no treatment-related grade 3+ adverse events reported. The Hot Flash-Related Daily Interference Scale scores improved by 14.2 and 20.7 points in the 2.5-mg and 5-mg oxybutynin arms, respectively, and by 3.1 points in the placebo arm.

“Oxybutynin demonstrated clear and clinically meaningful improvements in both hot flash frequency and quality of life for men undergoing hormone therapy for prostate cancer,” Stish said in a statement. “These results provide strong support for its use as an effective management option for this challenging and often overlooked side effect of prostate cancer treatment.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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