摘要
Objective:Herbal medicine has been a standard treatment for primary dysmenorrhea in different cultures and countries,and multiple studies have shown its possible positive effect on pain relief.This systematic review of the literature was conducted to assess different types of herbal medicine used to treat primary dysmenorrhea and evaluate the effectiveness of these medicines.Methods:This study systematically reviewed published articles on herbal medicine treating primary dysmenorrhea for 10 years(2011-2021),using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA)guidelines.In February 2022,international credible scholarly databases were searched.Also,the references of selected articles were hand searched to find relevant studies.Based on the search syntax,the search guideline was first defined for the PubMed database and was later revised according to each database’s specific framework of search method.The studies were included if they were either clinical trials or Quasi-Experimental,published in English or Persian between 2011 to 2021.Grey literature,unfinished studies,and studies without well-defined primary dysmenorrheal participants were excluded.Results:Seventy-three studies investigated the effectiveness of a total of 44 plants and plant combinations(35 single plants and 9 combinations of plants)on primary dysmenorrhea of which only one study did not report a significant positive effect.Ginger was the most investigated plant.Eight studies assessed the effects of ginger alone,and four studied the combination of ginger with other plants,all of them showed significant effects but one study.Nine studies investigated the effects of either fennel or its combination,five studies were on chamomile and three studies were related to lavender.Overall,all of them,except one,reported the positive effect of herbal medicine on primary dysmenorrhea.Conclusions:Different herbal medicine has been used to treat primary dysmenorrhea,significantly reducing pain intensity or duration or bleeding severity or duration.
