The effects of fennel on menstrual bleeding: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Nafiseh Ghassab Abdollahi, Mojgan Mirghafourvand and Sanaz Mollazadeh · Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine · 2018 March
DOI 10.1515/jcim-2017-0154
Objective
The present study was conducted to determine the effect of fennel on the amount (primary outcome) and duration of menstrual bleeding and its side-effects (secondary outcomes).
Conclusions
The results of meta-analysis of four articles showed that in the first cycle after treatment, use of fennel increased menstrual bleeding in the intervention group compared to the control, but meta-analysis of two articles showed no significant difference between intervention and control groups in the amount of menstrual bleeding in the second cycle after treatment. Given the poor quality of articles, conducting clinical trials to determine the effect of fennel on menstrual bleeding appears necessary.
Critical Appraisal
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Insights
Fennel caused a significant increase in mean menstrual bleeding in the first cycle after treatment in the intervention group compared to the control.
A total of 7993 articles were identified through searching the databases, of which 7327 were excluded as duplicates and 666 were screened for inclusion. Six hundread and forty six were excluded by title and abstract based on not being relevant to the review and being conducted on animals. Eventually, six articles were included in the study and four articles entered into the meta-analysis. The results from meta-analysis showed that using fennel caused a significant increase in mean menstrual bleeding in the first cycle after treatment in the intervention group compared to the control. However, it had no significant effect on menstrual bleeding in the second cycle after treatment.
