In Brief:
In this study, both traditional and sham acupuncture interventions improved vasomotor symptoms and menopause-related quality of life compared with control. Improvement in vasomotor symptoms seemed to be related to improvement in depression, anxiety, and sleep in both traditional and sham acupuncture, whereas traditional acupuncture only appeared to have an effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as a mechanistic and therapeutic pathway for vasomotor symptoms.