Validation of sternal skin conductance for detection of hot flashes in prostate cancer survivors.

The gold standard for objectively measuring hot flashes in women is an increased sternal skin conductance level (SCL), but validation studies in prostate cancer patients are lacking. In the laboratory, an SCL increase of > or = 1.78 micro-mho in 45 s had a sensitivity of 68% and a positive predictive value of 100% in detecting self-reported hot flashes among prostate cancer patients. Outside the laboratory, 71% of the objective markers of hot flashes were accompanied by a subjective report of a hot flash, and 65% of subjective reports occurred in the absence of an objective criterion. This study demonstrates that sternal skin conductance can be used to detect hot flashes in men in a manner analogous to its utilization among women. Such use would improve outcome analysis of treatment studies.