Comparison the Effect of Fennel and Mefenamic Acid on Severity of Primary Dysmenorrhea

Dysmenorrhea is one of the common problem among women which is associated with negative impact on social, academic, and sports activities of young women. Different chemical and herbal drugs are used for treatment that they have different effectiveness. Mefenemic acid is of common chemical drugs for dysmenorrhea. This study was performed with aim to compare the effectiveness of fennel with mefenamic acid on severity of dysmenorrhea in young girls.
This double-blind clinical trial was performed on 120 female students with severe and moderate dysmenorrhea. The students were randomly divided into two groups which received the fennel and mefenamic acid. The groups received 30 mg soft capsules of fennel and 250 mg capsules of mefenamic acid every six hours for two consecutive periods, from two days before menstruation until three days after menstruation. Two groups were homogenous in terms of pain severity and individual characteristics before the interventions. Severity of pain was measured by the verbal multidimensional scoring. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) and variance analysis and Compare couple Bonferroni. P Based on the results of variance analysis, significant reduction in dysmenorrhea severity was observed in two groups of fennel and mefenamic acid one month after the intervention (P0.001).
Fennel and mefenamic acid were effective on severity of dysmenorrhea, but considering less complications of fennel on gastrointestinal tract, it can be used as a suitable drug for dysmenorrhea.